Littl'un
by Nyakai
Summary: Ahsoka thought she cared for all the 501st clones equally, but over time one stood out apart from the rest. She found she shared a bond with her captain that was unlike any relationship with other soldiers. The fluffy stories between the stories spanning season one to episode III.
1. All up in his hair

**Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended. But if someone who works for Star Wars likes the idea of Rexsoka, DOO IIITT.

* * *

All up in his hair

* * *

It was just after the Republic's victorious destruction of the blockade strangling the planet Ryloth that General Skywalker's fleet received unexpected news. An intercepted and subsequently decrypted Separatist message informed them that a contingent of droids was en route to Delaya, Alderaan's sister planet. The holorecording faded after the battle droid conveyed its minimal message, leaving Anakin, Ahsoka, Captain Rex, and the intercepting officer staring at the dark holocom on the bridge of the _Resolute_.

"That's all we caught, sir. It was transmitted two hours ago, at most," the gray-clad officer announced as Anakin crossed his arms, his face etched in concentration.

"They're bold to infiltrate the core worlds," the general muttered. "There are no outposts on Delaya... what could they possibly be doing there?"

"Delaya is much more industrialized than Alderaan, General," supplied the officer. "They've been contributing to the Republic war effort. Considering the Seps are sending only a small force, it's possible they're not looking to overtake Delaya, but just to disrupt or destroy enough of the industry to keep them from helping us further."

"There's no way the Seppies could invade the core worlds with any substantial force without our fleets stopping them long before they reach their target," Rex added.

"Well, if they're only sending a small group, so are we," Anakin said with the mischievous grin his friends knew all too well. "Rex, assemble a squad of your best. We're heading out within the hour."

* * *

Delaya was a world with massive oceans and great forests. Even though the inhabitants had carved out a sizable part of the world on which to build homes and industrialize, there were still places for a small Jedi cruiser to land unnoticed, consumed by the wilderness. Ahsoka was one of the first off the ship to marvel at this new world full of tall trees, exotic sounds of hidden animals, and the general sense of calm permeating the area amidst the soft sunset. The clearing they landed in was about twice the size of their ship, and presented the crew with a picturesque view of a muted Alderaan hanging low in the sky.

"I want the communications beacon erected over there," ordered Anakin as he marched down the ramp followed by R2-D2, Rex and two other troopers. "Start scanning for any enemy chatter on all their known frequencies. I'll be leading a recon mission to the capital at daybreak."

Ahsoka helped the group set up camp at the opposite edge of the clearing, about one hundred meters from the ship. All camp was was a large tent, open on both ends, merely a roof to shield the two rows of bedrolls from the elements. Captain Rex determined the guard schedule for the night and Ahsoka was the first one to fall onto her mat for some sleep. She had had a long week, leading fighters to break through the blockade, both in victory and defeat. Her losses still weighed on her mind and all she wanted was a night to be numb to the galaxy, serenaded by a chorus of calls from Delaya's nocturnal creatures.

It felt like two minutes later that she woke to a trooper shaking her shoulder, whispering, "It's your watch, Commander." The Togruta gave a sleepy mumble and allowed the clone sniper, Longshot, to help her to her feet.

"It's a quiet night so far, Commander. It'll be an easy watch," Longshot reported with a nod before heading to his own bedroll.

Ahsoka took her place outside one entrance to their tent, casting a glance behind to confirm a sentry was also posted at the opposite entrance. A thin fog wandered through the camp, and the padawan rubbed her arms to ward off the stark night chill. The cold was beneficial for keeping her awake because her exhausted limbs just wanted to curl back up on her mat and rest.

Sudden movement from somewhere in the fog scattered the self-pitying thoughts from her mind, and one hand reflexively flew to her lightsaber hilt. A second later Ahsoka breathed a sigh of relief when she recognized a clone adorned with blue Jaig eyes approaching. Captain Rex gave her a nod in passing.

"Rex, where are you coming from?" the Togruta asked, crossing her arms across her chest and casting him a comically suspicious gaze.

"I had the last shift guarding the ship," he replied as he removed his helmet and poked a thumb over his shoulder. The cruiser was invisible beyond the fog and darkness. "You gonna be okay with this shift, Commander? Early morning is the worst."

Ahsoka stretched briefly before flinging her arms back around herself, shivering. "No problem. I volunteered for it, after all. You learn a new lesson every day, apparently." Rex smirked in reply. He entered the tent only to return moments later with his mat rolled under his arm and a large metal disc in the other hand. Ahsoka watched him curiously. He dexterously unfurled his bedding next to the last sleeping trooper in the row, which left his mat only halfway under the shelter of the tent. The disc he dropped heavily outside on the other side of his bedroll. Rex pushed a button on the side of the disc and the entire center section rose up several feet to hover above the ring base- a trooper chair for the field.

"In case you get tired and need a seat," Rex informed her before sitting on his own bedroll and beginning the task of unbuckling his armor. Ahsoka immediately took him up on the offer and joined him. Once Rex discarded his gloves, the Togruta snatched them up and donned them. Her hands experimented with every strange contortion she could accomplish as if she had never seen gloves before. The captain just chuckled.

"Thanks for the chair, Rex, but you didn't have to move all the way over here. I'm not gonna steal it." She crinkled her nose at him. The soldier, now only dressed in his undersuit, leaned back against one of the tent supports, his armor neatly stacked next to him.

"I figured I'd keep you company some, littl'un. Make sure you don't fall asleep," he replied with a pointed stare. He folded his arms across his chest and shifted against the tent support, getting comfortable.

"That was one time! Once! You have nothing to worry about, Rexter," Ahsoka defended, coloring. A sleepy voice from nearby told her to quiet down and prompted the padawan to shoot a chiding glare at Rex. He only chuckled again. She removed the gloves and dropped them onto his armor, allowing her hands to hug her arms. The nocturnal animals had all but given up by that time of night; aside from the crawling fog, the motionless landscape made the captain a far more interesting object of attention.

"You've seen a lot of the galaxy already, Rex. What's your favorite planet?"

"Hmm, favorite?" he mused quietly, his head leaning back against the support and his eyes closed. "I haven't seen most of these worlds outside of a military objective... don't know what they're like _not_ as a warzone." He paused to yawn. "Kamino will always be home, but beyond that, I wouldn't mind going back to Pantora."

Ahsoka remembered hearing about the mission Anakin and Obi-wan conducted to a Republic outpost on an apparently uninhabited frozen world under the control of the moon of Pantora. Rex had lost good soldiers there.

"We didn't get to stay long, only long enough to return the Pantoran senator to her home and refuel. It was built up, but it wasn't imposing like Coruscant. A little swampy, but it reminded me of home. And the people... were..."

Ahsoka leaned closer with a prodding nod in vain; Rex's eyes were still closed. "And the people were...?" she repeated. The captain's head slipped to the side and his breathing grew louder.

The Togruta smirked. "Thanks for the company." Another slow sweep of the area showed that absolutely nothing had changed in the past couple of minutes. Ahsoka checked the chrono in her comlink and sighed when she saw she still had over an hour and a half to go before her shift was done. This was one of the most annoying parts of missions: the late night guard shift where _nothing_ happened. The padawan almost wished that battle droids would discover their camp during her shift, attack, and give her something to _do_. At least then she could prove herself on the battlefield. After the first defeat against the Ryloth blockade, Ahsoka felt she had to reclaim the unit's trust in her abilities to fight, no matter how much Anakin tried to convince her otherwise. The fact that her first time leading a mission was into a Separatist trap didn't change the truth that her pilots were dead.

A soft sigh from Rex brought the Togruta's wandering mind back to the present. He looked peaceful sitting there, sleeping against the tent support. A curious thought flittered through her head as she watched him. _I wonder what human hair feels like..._ Ahsoka had seen such variation in the clones' hairstyles that she sometimes caught herself thinking about how it just stuck straight up on the clones, but then hung loose the way her master wore it. With all the action above Ryloth lately and now this impromptu mission, Rex had not trimmed his hair in days and a fine layer of blond crowned his head. He was even sporting stubble from one day's absence of shaving his face.

A cautious glance around. The other guard was dutifully watching outward. Everyone in the tent was soundly asleep. The Jedi cruiser still was invisible, obscured by the fog. The only noises came from the infrequent gusts of a fickle wind. Ahsoka reached out a hand, touched Rex's head as lightly as possible and drew back immediately. Nothing happened. Nobody stirred. Emboldened, Ahsoka settled her hand on Rex's head and let it trail around. She was surprised to find that when she felt one way, his hair was soft to the touch, much softer than it looked, but when she felt the opposite direction, it was prickly. This baffling experience of Rex's hair had to be scientifically studied, which clearly called for more experiments. Ahsoka rubbed his hair sideways, longways, diagonally, criss-crossed, and even ruffled it.

Somewhere in there, Rex's head jerked and he opened his eyes to find a young Togruta completely engrossed in running her hand through his hair.

"Lookin' for clankers?" he mumbled with half a smirk. Ahsoka jumped in her seat and retracted all limbs, wide-eyed.

"Rex!" whispered the girl, "I'm... sorry, I-I was just..."

The captain worked up enough energy to shrug one shoulder. "After a certain point at night, I don't give a flying kriff. Knock yourself out, kid." He repositioned himself against the tent support and leaned his head back once more, settling in for sleep. That was permission enough if ever she'd heard it.

At this angle, Ahsoka took advantage of her perfect access to his stubble and brushed a couple fingers across his chin. This elicited an immediate cringe from Rex coupled with an irritated grunt. The padawan was fine with returning to his hair because his new beard was unpleasantly rough. Ahsoka couldn't believe how interesting it was running a hand through human hair. If she were human, she would be doing this all the time. Ahsoka noticed the smirk cemented on Rex's face as she continued her methodical experimentation. She began to imagine what it would be like if someone did this to her, if someone stroked her lekku... It would be borderline sensual.

Color immediately flushed across her cheeks and darkened the chevrons on her lekku. Her hand withdrew a second later; holding it did nothing to suppress the tingling sensations that still danced across her palm. Ahsoka bit her bottom lip and grimaced at her carelessness. This was hardly how she should be acting in the field. She hunched over on her chair and hid her hands in her lap as best she could.

Rex stirred, mumbling a low, "Clanker-free?"

"Yep," replied Ahsoka with a wince. "Good to go."

* * *

**A.N.** **I hope this was cute and fluffy! My original intention was to make drabbles... but then I realized I can't write succinctly. :( **


	2. All up in their hair

All up in their hair

* * *

By the end of Ahsoka's shift, everyone in the camp was awake and in various stages of a complete uniform. Bedrolls were returned to the ship, now slightly visible against the dim horizon, and the tent dismantled. The atmosphere grew thick with diverse chirps, squawks, and bays as woodland creatures slowly caught up to the crew's head start.

Captain Rex, in full swing, barked direction to his troops, conferred with Skywalker, and helped transport tent parts back to the ship, without seeming to have a spare moment for Ahsoka.

Earlier, Anakin approached Ahsoka when the bustle first erupted and the Togruta appeared unusually underfoot, to lay a hand on her shoulder. "Snips, get some meditation in," he advised. "We'll be moving out soon and I need you at your best."

So here she was, sitting cross-legged by R2-D2 and the communications beacon- the least traversed sector of the clearing- forcing herself to close her mind to the ruckus. It was hard enough for the Togruta to meditate in the peaceful Jedi Temple, or in her cabin on the _Resolute_ where she only had to ignore the gentle hum of the ship navigating through hyperspace, but here it sounded like the clones were trying to outdo each other in making the most noise. Honestly, which one of them was mimicking all the bird calls? Ahsoka eventually blocked out the outside interference only to be left with her relentless thoughts, jumping from her overreach last night, to the blockade trap where she lost most of her squad, to worrying that the troops would never regain faith in her. Outwardly, her expression twisted in reflection of her turmoil. She realized that if a Jedi master recklessly led padawans to their deaths, Ahsoka would do anything but follow that Jedi. So how must the troops see her now?

"Ready?" a voice, sounding far away in the ether, asked. The Togruta surfaced from the depths of her restless mind to see Anakin standing right in front of her. R2 switched between busying himself with the communications beacon and unabashedly eavesdropping on the Jedi.

Ahsoka got to her feet. "As I'll ever be."

The sun had just crested the tops of the trees when Anakin, his padawan, and all but two clones and R2-D2, mounted speeders and zipped off through the forest. The long ride was interspersed with sightings of slow-flying thranta above the trees, grazing nerfs, and the sounds of active unseen creatures farther away. Finally the group reached a hill at the forest's edge overlooking the industrial capital of Leilani, a twisting, gray city coughing smoke columns into the atmosphere. Everyone in the party dismounted and dropped to their stomachs; Captain Rex and Anakin both produced macrobinoculars to observe the area.

Anakin's commlink beeped. "Sir!" It was one of the soldiers left behind to monitor the beacon. "We're picking up a transmission- a conversation from two opposite locations in the city."

"Can you locate their signal?" Anakin demanded. He and Rex scanned the city hawkishly.

"Transmitting coordinates now."

A second later Anakin was up and back on his speeder. "Snips, Longshot, and a spotter, you're coming with me. Rex, take the rest of the men and move in on the closer coordinates." Longshot and Gamma were on their speeders surprisingly fast for all their armor and equipment.

Ahsoka watched the captain intently through all of this only to notice he spared her not one glance. The offense she took at this apparent slight kicked her right in the stomach. Ahsoka mounted her own speeder, sticking out her chin and stubbornly facing forward, deciding to not give him a second look, either. Anakin took off down the ridge toward the capital, his padawan and the two troopers at his heels.

The few bystanders out in the city at this early hour pointed at the spectacle of Jedi and soldiers zipping by, but continued about their business once the speeders were out of sight and the whining of their engines was lost amid the rumble of local machines. Short, gray buildings lined the street, along with business signs not yet lit up for the day. Every once in awhile they passed an establishment painted something other than gray; Ahsoka only registered these as short blurs of color. She wondered if her master had ever been to this planet before due to the confidence and speed at which he was leading them through the city.

Anakin steered his speeder far closer to Ahsoka's than the recommended safe distance. "What's wrong, young one?" he shouted over the vehicles. "I can feel your confused emotions."

Ahsoka gave a hassled pout. "Is this really the right time to open up a discussion? I mean we've kinda got more important issues at hand!"

"Exactly!" replied Anakin. The Togruta rolled her eyes. It figured her master would pick a time like this to work in some mentoring. "Your head's not even in this star system right now, Ahsoka! I need you to focus on the mission- be vigilant!"

"Don't worry about me, master. I've got the eyes of a Trandoshan hunter!"

Anakin glanced back at his padawan and shared her smirk before punching his speeder into the next gear. He led them along the main deserted road that ran straight to the armor factory in the heart of the northern industrial sector. It was here that the armor for most ships was made, upgraded, and repaired. The ship docks in this sector were large enough that even Venator-class destroyers could comfortably land for refitting. The tall factories, exhaust pipes, and overall bleakness that dominated the area made the forest in which the party originally landed seem part of a whole different planet altogether.

"Can it _be_ any further away?" quipped Ahsoka moments before her master stopped next to the starship docks, eyeing the complex loading machines that seemed to compete with the rusting factory smokestacks for the prominence of tallest structure.

"Longshot, get the best vantage point you can. Ahsoka and I will lure them out of the factory. Let's try to contain all collateral damage as best as possible, because-"

"Uh, master," interrupted Ahsoka, her eyes on the factory. "It looks like they're already lured." She pointed to a group of commando droids hurrying in a wedge formation from the building with all the smokestacks.

Anakin ignited his blue lightsaber as he dismounted his speeder. "Well, that settles that." Ahsoka followed his lead and the two Jedi sprinted towards the enemy, lightsabers humming. The droids seemed intent on escaping the area as quickly as possible and did not notice they were being flanked until their enemy was practically on top of them. Anakin and his padawan cut into the middle of the formation and fought back to back; the robots scattered as the Jedi gained ground. The commando droids were much more adept at fighting than their battle droid cousins and did not stay within the reach of any lightsaber once the first two droids fell. The commandos used space to their advantage and continually backed up, firing their weapons.

One droid pursued by Ahsoka dropped to the ground with a smoking blaster shot to its head. Two of the others nearby immediately swiveled to locate their new attacker. One pointed to Longshot atop the closest loading crane a second before the sniper blasted half its face off. Ahsoka made quick work of the remaining three commandos, then ran to help Anakin fend off the rest of his. The Jedi cleared their way through all but one droid, who turned on its heel and sprinted away once it realized it was alone. The commando made it about two yards before its head jerked back from a blaster shot; it crumpled to the ground.

Anakin hooked his lightsaber on his belt and pressed his commlink. "Captain Rex, what's your situation?" His troopers packed up their gear and began the task of scaling down to the ground. They made it about halfway down the steep structure before a response crackled over the channel.

"We're outnumbered, General!" Rex shouted amid the sounds of blaster fire. The end of his message was nearly obscured by another soldier's scream.

"We're on our way," Anakin said before hastening back to his speeder, waving for Longshot and Gamma to hurry.

"But, Master, what about here? The droids were up to _something_, and they were in a rush to get away!" protested the padawan, casting a suspicious glance across the factory landscape.

"Our men are more important at the moment," Anakin responded in the definitive voice he used when issuing orders. "We can come back to this later; Rex needs us now." Ahsoka had no choice but to follow him back to the waiting vehicles.

As they sped through the industrial park, Anakin ordered the soldiers back at the ship to jam any Separatist transmission attempting to leave the planet. The last thing they needed was enemy reinforcements descending on their heads.

By the time all four reached the rest of their group, pinned down behind various mechanical rigs outside another similarly old, gray factory, two soldiers were already down and being treated by Coric the medic behind the shelter of large exhaust pipes. This left Rex and two others available to offer suppressive fire against around twenty droids.

Longshot immediately slid off his speeder somewhere away from the main group and used the flattest part of it as a platform for his sniper rifle. Gamma was by his side a moment later determining distances and wind speed. The clones' dirtied armor almost worked as camouflage in this drab environment. Anakin's lightsaber afforded himself perfect cover while he forged his way to the captain.

"You had one job," snickered the general. Under his and Ahsoka's protective lightsabers, the remaining troopers were freer to return fire. Several more commano droids fell, especially once Longshot entered the fight.

"We had it under control, sir, until a second group came outta nowhere," Rex growled through his helmet vents. One of his soldiers cried out in pain as a blaster bolt caught his shoulder and threw him back.

"Medic!" shouted Rex with a honed ferocity that carried over the noise of blaster fire. Ahsoka dropped to her knees next to the injured trooper. She waved a hand from his shoulder to his head and down to his stomach in the same way the Jedi healers had just recently taught her. Coric appeared then to pull the trooper's good arm over his own shoulders, prying him out of the padawan's grasp and leading him off to safety before Ahsoka could help further.

"Snips, you go left, I'll take right!" Anakin called. The Togruta's lightsaber jumped to life again as she sprinted in an opposite direction from her master, leaving Rex and the last soldier to fend for themselves, aided by Longshot and Gamma somewhere behind them. By now there were about fourteen commandos remaining. When Anakin and his padawan reached the enemy there were only twelve. The two Jedi slowly carved their way through the droids, and those that stayed out of their reach were at least distracted enough to be shot down by the troopers. The commandos dropped much faster once flanked. Adrenaline rushing through their veins, the Jedi scanned the area twice for more enemies after the last one fell before allowing themselves to breathe freely.

Anakin stowed his lightsaber. "Where's Fuse?"

"Injured!" Coric called back. Ahsoka rushed to the large exhaust pipes protecting the wounded and found Fuse holding a bacta patch to his thigh. The excitement to help shining bright in her eyes quickly extinguished. The Togruta hadn't been taught how to heal extremities yet; that was lesson two.

"R2, buddy," Anakin said into his commlink as he approached the group, "I need you to check for any Separatist explosives. There were at least three groups of droids, there may be three bombs." He preemptively picked up Fuse's explosive ordinance disposal backpack and slung it over his own shoulders.

R2 soon responded with excited noises coupled with a holographic layout of the industrial sector. Three blue dots pulsated from different structures on the map. Anakin broke up the remaining available soldiers into groups: Longshot and Gamma, Rex and his soldier, and the two Jedi. He shared the disposal equipment and the teams set out to accomplish their task at hand, leaving Coric to tend to the wounded until they could be safely transported back to the ship.

* * *

Checking into the medbay aboard the _Resolute_ was routine for Ahsoka anymore after any successful mission where she was exposed to fighting. It was such a bright, sterile environment that she didn't care to stay long in such a harsh atmosphere if she didn't have to. Fortunately, unlike the wounded troopers, she just needed a quick look over, afforded to her by Kix as Coric continued to assist his brothers.

"Good to go, Commander," Kix announced with a definitive nod of his intricately shaved head. She looked past him at the injured men covered in varying amounts of bacta patches.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"They're just flesh wounds, Commander. Sergeant Coric and I can handle it. Get some rest." Before she could protest further, Kix turned and headed back to check on one of the injured clones. Ahsoka could only offer a smile no one noticed before leaving the medbay, eyes downcast.

It had been a long day of fighting and dire situations. It felt as if the adrenaline was only now starting to dissipate from when Anakin not-so-expertly tinkered with the largest Separatist bomb they had yet encountered. Her master didn't let her help with ordnance disposal, the medics didn't let her help with healing; overall Ahsoka felt disregarded.

The Togruta walked lethargically back to her room, holding her arms tight. The path was so familiar that she didn't have to think about it; her feet automatically took her down the well-traveled hallways. She saw figures pass without really noticing. Droids, soldiers, officers. A trooper stopped somewhere in her peripheral vision, white armor dirtied to the point where it would never be properly clean again.

"Commander?"

She kept walking.

"Commander Tano!"

More steps. A sharp right at the next hallway. A hand out of nowhere on her shoulder. The startled padawan gave a squeak as she spun around, grabbing her assailant's wrist reflexively. Captain Rex, however, slipped his arm out of her distracted grasp and dropped his hands heavily onto her shoulders. The rare soldier to pass them only gave them a glance before continuing on.

"Ahsoka!" he repeated, staring straight into her eyes. Her faraway gaze barreled into the present. She blinked.

"Rex..." She watched him search her features as if looking for the right question to ask, but she interrupted his train of thought. "Rex, I want to... apologize." His hands slipped from her shoulders. "I think I went a little too far during my guard shift planetside, and... I'm sorry."

It started in Rex's shoulders, a silent shaking that worked its way into his chest, then out his mouth first as a chuckle, then laughter. Ahsoka's cheeks turned a deep orange as her expression slipped from confusion to indignity.

"Is that what's been bothering you?" the captain asked once he had caught his breath. A trailing chuckle still managed to escape. "Look, kid, as long as you're on your game during the mission, I don't care what you do on your off hours. You had the worst guard shift, and nothing was happening. I know for a fact if anything had occurred, you would've fought twice as hard as the rest of the men. We all know it."

Ahsoka's eyes stung and a shaky breath shuddered in her chest. "You're not mad? You ignored me all today..."

"I was focused on the mission," he corrected quickly. "But the head thing? I considered it good luck." He cast a glance at two approaching clones and flagged them down when he recognized them.

"You two are part of the platoon element resupplying General Plo, right?" In response, Echo and Fives saluted sharply. Rex returned the gesture. "They've probably already told you that this mission might not be free of fighting. But this one here's a good luck charm," he said with a nod toward the padawan.

"A good luck charm, sir?" asked Echo as Ahsoka's whole face turned a dark orange and her montrals deepened to black.

"She rubbed my head and I was one of the few not to get shot in the last firefight. Jedi luck." The two younger soldiers exchanged glances before inclining their heads to her level.

"I want good luck," Fives announced.

"Me too, sir!" added Echo. After a moment of hesitation, Ahsoka reached out, sank her hands through their jet black hair and rubbed tentatively. She jerked her hands back just as quickly as she did the first time with Rex. The clones seemed satisfied though, and continued on their way talking about the value of luck in the midst of battle.

On the bridge, Anakin stood watching the navigation and intelligence officers bustle to and fro, some administering the pending release of the supply ship, others charting the next hyperspace lane of the _Resolute_. He ordered a communications channel opened with the pilot of the supply run currently waiting in the ship's hangar.

"Corro, is the squad up?"

"Er, General..." came the hesitant reply over the intercom, "the men... they're insisting they won't fly unless they get some, uh... 'Jedi good luck,' too."

"...What?"

* * *

**A.N. These two stories take place right at the end of season 1, so I couldn't really resolve Ahsoka's guilty feelings about her troops here because she makes the same mistake in episode 1 of season 2: she defies orders from her masters and continues to fight battle droids at the risk of all the troops under her command. So I figure she doesn't actually learn her lesson until after that when she's brought before the Council. **

**But besides that. Ah, Rex, always one to make possibly awkward situations completely fine with the grace and finesse of a Wookiee. :3**


	3. Fleshy Lek

Fleshy Lek

* * *

Club Fleshy Lek was full of clones in all different uniforms from a diverse amount of units, laughing, drinking, and being accosted by local females. Troopers about to ship out were in armor; those just returning wore their gray dress uniforms. This was one of the few clubs on Coruscant that had not banned clones from their establishment, because although the planet was publicly supportive of the war, club owners were painfully aware that clones on their off hours proved capable of getting into worlds of trouble.

Inside, colored lights flashed in time to the ground-shaking music, which was strong enough to rock the landing pad outside. The place was so packed that the clones lined up along the bar were considered to be intruding on the dance floor.

The 501st was well represented there that night, having returned from Ryloth and been granted a two-week leave while all ships and equipment were repaired and refitted. From the bar, Captain Rex every once in awhile noticed the faces of Coric, Fives and Echo surface momentarily from the sea of aliens only to disappear again. Kix, Denal and Jesse were in an alcove across the room surrounded by females of all different species. For the second time, a light green Twi'lek with more covering in her headdress than the rest of her body approached Rex, grabbed his arm and tried to lead him into the chaos on the dance floor. The man wouldn't be budged.

"I told you!" he shouted over the noise, "When I'm done with _this._" The captain jiggled a cup in his other hand and the Twi'lek dropped his arm with a pout. Coric and Echo emerged from the crowd then only for the green Twi'lek to throw her arms around Echo, hauling him back into the fray.

Coric just laughed, "I've never felt so popular in my life, sir!"

"Well, we helped free Ryloth. Seems the Twi'leks are... grateful," replied Rex, allowing a grin. As if on cue, two blue Twi'leks appeared at the bar to hang on both soldiers. Rex, still determined to finish his drink, passed his new friend off to Coric, who had no qualms about two females being draped over his arms.

Not half a second later an orange hand tugged on Rex's uniform sleeve. The soldier rounded on the offender to curse her out for not allowing a man to finish his drink in privacy, but the words caught in his throat. He paled.

"C-commander?!" was all he managed to say.

The little Togruta smirked in her usual way when she was pleased with herself, arms folding across her chest. The dancing majority was so close that they pressed the padawan flat against the bar at Rex's shoulder. She casually propped an arm on the bar as she leaned back, but ended up sticking her elbow in somebody's spilled drink and promptly returned to just standing there in an out-of-place manner.

"W-what're you doing here? You shouldn't be here, sir!" the captain continued. "How'd you even get in here?"

"I explained to the bouncer that I'm just as much a soldier as anyone else here," Ahsoka replied.

"You waved a hand and Jedi'd your way in, didn't you?" he questioned with no hint of geniality in his voice.

"N...no!" The jarring electronic music swallowed her reply, but her unsettled expression was answer enough.

"You're too young to be here, kid-"

Ahsoka's borderline glare was made more menacing by the random pattern of the strobing lights as she retorted, "I'm older than you!"

"This again." Rex's palm found his face. He took a deep breath before setting his drink down on the bar. "We're getting you out of here."

"But I just got here!" Taking her by the arm, the captain led her towards the door, pushing against the tide of incoming aliens and troopers. There was still a sizable amount of people loitering outside around the landing pad, but it felt sparse in comparison. Even though it was already nighttime, the surrounding buildings, countless neon signs, and all the lanes of traffic flying overhead made the landing pad anything but dark.

"Does the General know you're here?" Rex demanded, pulling her none too gently toward the line of idling taxis as a new air speeder descended to the landing pad.

"And what if he _does_?" she shot back. The passenger exiting the newest taxi caught Ahsoka's immediate attention: a trooper with yellow markings on his armor, helmet smartly tucked under one arm. Commander Cody. Ahsoka ducked behind Rex. "Okay, no, he doesn't. Hide me!"

The captain nonchalantly side stepped toward a taxi, Ahsoka tiptoeing behind his back. Cody seemed preoccupied enough that he gave no notice to any bystanders on his way inside. Rex herded the Togruta inside the nearest vehicle before hopping in himself and instructing their driver to take them to the Jedi temple. The Aleena driver glanced back dubiously at his two customers, but pulled away from the landing pad and merged into traffic.

Ahsoka sat scrunched as far away from Rex as possible, her arms folded across her chest and a pout protruding from her face. They sat in silence for several minutes as the taxi glided into the more privileged sector dominated by elaborate skyscrapers and bright lights emanating from colorful advertisements hanging in the air next to traffic lanes.

"I thought you were tasked out to mentor the younglings," Rex finally spoke. "That's why we hadn't seen you in a hot minute."

"I am. But younglings are in bed at this hour," the Togruta replied, shooting a glower in his direction.

"So you figured you'd visit a club of all places?"

Ahsoka mustered a half-hearted shrug. "I wanted to see where everyone was going. The masters are all busy, who knows where Anakin's gone off to again, the 501st is constantly hanging out back in that club... I didn't want to be alone."

Rex was about to reach out to a friend with a reassuring touch: a hand on a shoulder or a pat on the head, but he restrained himself. That was how he would act with one of his soldiers, but Ahsoka wasn't a soldier. She was also his superior. He couldn't comfort her in the same way he did when showing his brothers support. So Rex kept his hands to himself and let the Togruta sit isolated on her side of the air speeder.

"Just think, kid," he eventually said, "in no time we're gonna be back with the fleet on some backwater planet fighting for survival, and you're gonna get so much time with us clones that you'll be hiding out in the ventilation systems again just to get some space."

Ahsoka scoffed. Clearly she remembered to which event he was alluding. "I wasn't hiding because I needed to be alone. I was hiding because I was playing a game with some of the guys and Trap was looking for us all!"

Rex reflected on the memory in the context of this new information, but eventually waved it aside altogether. "Look, the point is: enjoy the downtime you have. Don't come snooping around places you shouldn't. You might get more people than just yourself in trouble, littl'un."

The familiar towers of the Jedi Temple loomed over the air speeder as it gently touched down on the public landing pad. With a nod, Rex tossed the driver several credits before he and Ahsoka hopped out.

"Escorting me now, too?" quipped the Togruta as she walked along the bridge leading to the temple, arms crossed. Her pout, not quite as prominent as before, was still present.

"Seeing the mission through to the end," he replied. They walked through the accompanying hangar and into the temple. The hallways were dimly lit at this time of night; the only signs of life were the occasional Temple Guard stationed rigidly at seemingly random intervals, nearly blending in with their shadowy surroundings. The guards made no acknowledgement of the newcomers, but Rex could feel their gazes on him as he passed each one. The captain couldn't quite ascertain if Ahsoka was bothered by this, or even if she felt watched.

Just before the main hallway they traversed dead-ended into a set of large, intricately designed double doors, it intersected with a smaller corridor. Ahsoka turned left down the corridor just as the doors whisked open for Masters Obi-wan Kenobi and Plo Koon to exit. Rex found himself wondering if he could blend in just like the Temple Guards in the low light.

"Captain Rex?" Obi-wan called. Ahsoka and Rex stopped dead in their tracks. "What's going on here?" The two turned almost mechanically to face the generals standing in front of the doors. Kenobi crossed his arms, looking from the captain to the padawan.

"Sir!" Rex responded automatically. "I, er... we were... just-"

Ahsoka came to his rescue. "Captain Rex generously gave up one of his leave days to take me around the city. We just got back." The Masters nodded as if her excuse failed to live up to their expectations.

"Well, young one," Plo Koon said, "I believe you have an early morning tomorrow. Good night. Captain Rex, in General Skywalker's absence, we need to discuss matters with you." Both masters turned and walked the opposite way down the smaller hallway. In their limited privacy, Rex gave the Togruta a pat on the back.

"Thanks, littl'un," he said with a friendly wink. "G'night." He ran off after the generals and fell in step behind them. They seemed to glide rather than walk, Plo Koon keeping his hands clasped behind his back and Obi-wan slowly stroking his beard. Masked sentries guarded this hallway as well, but Rex sensed he was not watched as acutely this time.

"Captain," Kenobi said over his shoulder, "from where exactly did you pick up Anakin's padawan?"

"From... where, sir?" the captain repeated slowly, heart sinking.

"Yes. You see, because General Plo and I needed you urgently, I sent Commander Cody out looking for you in all the regular places."

"I must say," began Plo Koon, his voice so deep it felt like it could shake the ground, "'Fleshy Lek' is one of the more... inventive... names for a club I've heard to date."

Kenobi immediately scoffed. "Please tell me Ahsoka wasn't there long, Captain."

Rex let a hand run down his face. Lying was a waste of time; it would only help extend this painfully awkward conversation. "No, general, she wasn't there long."

"I'm actually impressed she managed to follow you there undiscovered," Plo reflected. "She's rather ingenious."

"This can't happen again. She'll be setting a bad example for the other younglings," argued Obi-wan.

"Er, generals... you wanted to discuss something? Where's General Skywalker?" If there was anything Rex could do for Ahsoka, it was to get the Jedi Masters on a different topic. Kenobi accepted wholeheartedly.

"Ah, yes. Anakin, true to form, has disappeared two milliseconds after initially reporting in. We have orders for the 501st's next mission to share with you, Captain."

Rex left the generals' company hours later. He navigated the dark halls in the Jedi Temple to the best of his memory, but still found himself hesitating at hallway intersections more than once. Although the thought crossed his mind, Rex was not going to bother asking a Temple Guard for directions. Finally he noticed the large double doors across from the wide hall he and Ahsoka had first traveled down. The soldier rounded the corner and promptly bumped into a small, cloaked figure. He looked down to see a young, green-skinned Mirialan girl with tattoos across her nose staring up at him, wide-eyed.

"Is bedtime just a suggestion around here? For crying out loud..." he mumbled to himself as he walked around her and continued on. His communicator beeped when he finally reached the hangar bay. "Captain Rex here."

"Rexter!" came the whispered reply. "Is everything okay? Are we in trouble?"

The captain rolled his eyes. There was no point in arguing the fact that she was _still_ awake. "We..." Rex struggled to keep a calm tone. "Will be seeing more of each other these two weeks."

A happy squeal followed. "So we're not in trouble!"

"Never said _that_, kid."

* * *

**A.N. Feedback is encouraged! What did you think of Rex's POV for once? One more chapter after this before getting into season 2.**

**Completely unrelated, I am closely following this Star Wars webcomic about Ahsoka post-season 5 that's uploaded on tumblr. And super excited cuz more comes out tomorrow~ Does anyone else read Star Wars Destinies? **


	4. The Chase

The Chase

* * *

Ahsoka, Captain Rex, Denal, Echo and Fives all sat in handcuffs along one side of a table in a small, windowless interrogation room in the Coruscant police department headquarters. All personal effects confiscated, they had been waiting for nearly a half hour for anyone to show up with information about what was going on. Echo easily wore the most worried expression out of everyone.

"And here I thought leave would be boring," Denal, sporting a wide, shaved stripe on either side of his head, snickered. He was the first one to break the silence.

"I get how _we_ were dragged into this," began Fives, tossing a thumb in Echo's direction, "but how did this all start in the first place?" In reply, Denal and Rex stared right at Ahsoka. The Togruta huffed.

"It's not like I planned for this to happen!" she retorted as she tugged in vain at her binders. With Fives' and Echo's gazes upon her, Ahsoka slouched further into her seat and sighed. "It started earlier this evening with Anakin..."

* * *

Anakin Skywalker entered the mess hall in the 501st barracks to find Ahsoka, Captain Rex and Denal all at one table, cards in hand, in an otherwise empty room. The clones sat comfortably in their off duty uniforms.

"Really?" the general asked, nearing the table. "You're in the barracks of all places during your leave?" Denal and Rex merely shrugged, the former focusing more intently on his cards.

"Does this have anything to do with the rumor that the 501st is banned from that pro-clone club you boys go to at every opportunity?" Anakin persisted. "Lek-flesh... or whatever?" He folded his arms across his chest and stared at both soldiers in turn.

"I haven't heard anything about that, sir," Rex said with a shake of his head.

"Yep," Denal added quickly, avoiding eye contact, "me either, General." Ahsoka looked up at her master innocently.

"So, it's just a _coincidence _that you're here?" Anakin's gaze flicked across everyone in the party.

"Funny how the galaxy works, sometimes," Rex said, wearing one of the cheekiest smiles Ahsoka had ever seen.

"Yeah, who really wants to be out at a club on a weekend?" scoffed Denal. "Only _everyone else_ would be there. Come on–" The trooper gave a grunt when Rex kicked him under the table, but managed a weak, "...sir."

The general pursed his lips. "I'm going to find out what you're hiding. I'd find out tonight if I didn't have prior obligations."

"Oh, right, the senatorial dinner," snickered Ahsoka. "That's gonna be the most boring thing in the galaxy tonight. _So_ glad I don't have to go to those."

"S'what happens when you're the Chancellor's favorite," Rex grinned at her. He finally regained some semblance of propriety when he looked back to his general. "We'll probably still be here when you get back, sir."

"Don't wait up; looks like it's going to be a long night," Anakin responded with something between a huff and a sigh. "But when I get back, I'm _going_ to find out why you're all acting so suspicious." He let his gaze linger on each of the three for an uncomfortably long time before spinning on his heel and leaving the hall, Ahsoka's gaze following him the whole time.

"Your move, kid," Denal prompted. While waiting for the Togruta to consult her hand of cards, Denal nudged Rex. "Think he's serious about finding out why we're banned, sir?"

"Eh, it's a temporary ban. Once it's lifted, he'll forget all about it," replied the captain with a dismissive wave of his hand. All the same, both clones stared straight at Ahsoka, making the girl wince.

"Look, I'm _sorry._ I didn't think the club was really serious about age limits... and I _really_ didn't think they'd _ban_ the 501st! I can't believe they even found out," she practically whined.

"Two weeks," grumbled Denal. "Of this." He smacked his cards on the table and glumly propped his head on his fist. Ahsoka perked up slightly.

"I have an idea!" The sparkle in her eyes was obvious.

"Your last idea ruined my leave," Denal shot back. Ahsoka scrunched her face at him and beseeched Rex.

"I know for a fact that Anakin does _not_ have a dinner to go to tonight."

"That's all the general's been griping about this whole week," Rex said, exchanging glances with Denal.

"C-3PO told me there _is_ a dinner tonight, but the Chancellor isn't going to be there. He said it's some political hoopla to sway more senators to vote for something-or-other, and Jedi weren't invited." Her white eye markings shot up into a meaning stare directed at both clones. "So, gentlemen, I ask you: where is my master going?"

Denal straightened and shrugged. "The general's a grown man. He can do what he wants."

"But he lied! To everyone! He's told everyone in the battalion that he's got this dinner tonight!" Ahsoka dropped her cards to wave her hands above her montrals at the seriousness of it all. "He's up to something!"

Rex smirked at her display. "For all you know, he could be on some super-secret Jedi mission."

"He's not. Otherwise, I'd be going with him," the Togruta stated, turning her nose up at the idea of being tactically left behind.

Denal shook his head with the ghost of a grin on his features. "You think too highly of yourself, little one."

"Hey, no," Rex interjected almost immediately. "Come up with your own nickname. 'Littl'un' is mine."

"Sir, you can't claim sole ownership of a nickname," retorted Denal with an expansive shrug.

"Yes, I can. I'm ordering you to come up with your own nickname."

Denal stared blankly at Rex before sliding a palm down his face, grumbling, "...Two weeks of _this_." Both soldiers turned back to the padawan's seat across the table only to find it empty. The closest door whisked open and Ahsoka stopped in the doorway, beckoning the clones with a wave of her arm.

"Don't tell me you're not in the least bit interested!" she cried when neither made a move to stand.

* * *

"And that's when you two came in," concluded the Togruta.

"Sir, we just wanted food," Echo defended. "And I'm _still_ hungry."

* * *

"'Scuse us, Commander," a voice spoke up behind Ahsoka. Echo and Fives stood there in their gray undersuits, waiting for the Togruta to unblock the door to food. She smiled when she saw them.

"Boys! Do you want to help me? Anakin snuck off somewhere again and I'm going to follow him!"

Fives pointed to the mess hall. "Is he in there? I'd follow the general in there." He tried to squeeze around her anyway. Ahsoka obliged and focused her begging expression on Echo.

"It could be fun..."

Echo appeared to contemplate it before saying, "Sir, fun was getting the commlink frequency of that Twi'lek I met at the club last time. Who's been banned since then? This clone." He skirted the pouting Togruta, following his brother inside.

"That's not a very good excuse when _you're_ the one too shy to contact _her_," she heard Fives retort from halfway across the mess. With a huff, Ahsoka scanned up and down the corridor from her spot obstructing the mess hall door. She gave an excited laugh.

"There's Hardcase! He'll help!" And off she ran.

Not a second after the door closed, it zipped back open and four clones hurried out amidst a chorus of, "No! Bad idea, commander! Just wait!"

* * *

Finally the interrogation room door opened and in walked a clone trooper covered in red markings. His visor swept slowly over each prisoner before glancing down at the datapad in his hand. "I am Commander Fox," he stated crisply. "They brought me in because they said clones were involved in this debacle. I didn't believe it at first, but now that I see you're part of the 501st, it makes a little bit more sense."

"What are the charges?" Rex demanded. When Fox's visor stared unwaveringly at him, the captain spat out, "_Sir_."

"Stealing a vehicle by driving it out of its allocated sector; reckless driving; not _one_ occupant of the vehicle having a civilian driver's license, let alone the driver–"

"So piloting a larty makes me unqualified to drive a civvie sky sled?" quipped Fives.

"I've blown up things bigger than what we were driving," Denal added, as if that justified matters.

"I have _fallen_ from greater heights than we were flying. We were completely safe," Ahsoka piped up, only to be jabbed in the side by Rex. Commander Fox looked at everyone down the row before shaking his head.

"Can someone tell me what _exactly_ you were doing with a hover taxi tonight?"

"Well, we took a regular taxi to the sector in question, but we got... separated from another in our party," Rex began carefully.

* * *

Ahsoka sat beaming in the backseat of a Coruscant taxi, squished among Fives, Echo, and Denal. Captain Rex had pulled rank in order to get the front passenger's seat all to himself. Their Dug driver never once protested to the over-crowding; perhaps he had seen worse.

"Well, this is great," muttered Fives. "There are thousands of vehicles flying around out here. There's no way in _haran_ we'll find the general."

"Except that I put a tracking device on Anakin's speeder..." the little Togruta practically sang, holding up a small handheld device emitting a holographic map that pinpointed two moving dots, one red and one blue. All clones slowly looked from the map to the deviously grinning padawan.

"And just where did you get your hands on a tracker, kid?" Rex questioned from up front.

"Oh... around."

The air speeder entered the lower levels of the planet where those that wanted to make an honest wage all too often were forced to compete with the riffraff trying to cheat their way into the privileged levels. Traffic in these parts flew so low that ground-level pedestrians were visible.

"There!" shouted Ahsoka, pointing toward a line of parked cars along the paved street far below them. The two dots on her projected map turned into one purple blip as their taxi landed on the road. The Dug appeared to be uncomfortable in this sector for the speed at which he took off again into the sky once Rex paid him. This part of Coruscant wasn't as bright or as inviting as what Ahsoka was used to. The neon signs were old, grimy. Establishments well on their way toward dilapidation lined the street; the buildings in this area were not much taller than two or three stories. There were a couple cantinas, small shops, and a diner. The many people wandering about all looked underprivileged, from their severely threadbare clothes to their time-weathered expressions.

"Are we sure we're in the right area?" Echo asked. Almost naturally, the clones had formed into a protective circle, all facing back to back with the little padawan right in the center. She pushed past Denal and Fives to lead the group out of the street and into a more concealed location between two buildings.

"Yes, see that red speeder in line? That's Anakin's. So he should be right around here." The map tracker was already stowed.

"Where exactly is 'here'?" questioned Rex. He squared his shoulders at all the passersby who hurled suspicious gazes in their direction.

"I think our shadowing just turned into an extraction," Fives muttered.

"If Anakin sees us, it's over!" argued Ahsoka.

"The Commander's right," Denal said. "We need to be smart about this. We can break up into groups to cover more ground while being inconspicuous. I'll start in there." He tilted his head toward the nearest cantina.

Rex gave a quiet laugh. "I knew you were up to something."

"I'll call if I find anything," announced Denal with a wave as he crossed the street. When Ahsoka looked back at the rest of the clones, Fives and Echo were already halfway to the diner. They shouted promises to call if they saw anything, as well. That left Rex.

At least one clone was focused on the mission. "Should we start with the pawn shop, the repair shop, or the five credit store?" Where all goods cost five credits or less.

Ahsoka's brow furrowed at the scant choices; none of these options sounded like normal places Anakin would visit. "Well, let's go down the line and see what we find," decided the Togruta. Just as she stepped into the street, a flurry of motion caught her eye from a nearby rooftop: a dark figure wearing a fluttering cape. In one bound, it scaled to the roof of the next building over, which stood almost two stories taller. "That's gotta be Anakin!" Without waiting for acknowledgement from the captain, Ahsoka broke into a sprint that catapulted her onto the roof of the repair store. Rex huffed.

"Always getting left behind..." he muttered to himself as he stalked out from the alleyway. "Jedi just assume everyone else can keep up..." Rex located a taxi landing pad on the next street over and commandeered a hover taxi, a sled-like vehicle where all occupants rode standing on a platform in the back of the transport. The captain piloted the vehicle back to the original street to scan the rooftops for Ahsoka. The engines whined under the weight of another body climbing onto the platform; Denal gave a shallow nod of acknowledgement to Rex, who had spun about almost defensively.

"Back already?" the captain asked before returning to his previous job of searching.

"Bartender told me they don't serve 'my kind' in there, like I'm some kind of kriffin' droid. I want to chuck a detonator into that cantina so bad!" growled Denal. Both fists tightened around the hand rails until his knuckles turned white.

"This is why you don't leave home unprepared," Rex chided lightly.

"Sir, if you have a thermal det on you right now, I will kiss you." Denal's eyes darted across his captain systematically, pausing on all the common areas where weapons were stowed.

"Unfortunately, I don't. But at the moment I need your help finding the commander."

"Misplaced her again, huh?" Denal pointed down the street at two figures lunging across buildings. Rex steered the hover taxi to glide at rooftop-level, well below the lowest lane of flying traffic. The two runners led them down side streets, into the apartment suburbs, and then into another business sector. Ahsoka only accepted a ride in their taxi after she missed a jump that the cloaked figure made with ease, and fell through the air. Rex positioned the hard platform to break her fall before speeding after the runner.

"Kid, I'm pretty sure he knows we're after him," he called over his shoulder as Denal helped the Togruta to her feet. Her commlink beeped.

"Commander?" came Echo's voice. "We just saw the General leave the five credit store. He got in his speeder and drove off." Wide-eyed, Ahsoka snatched the tracking map from her belt and turned on the holoprojection. Their little red dot was traveling opposite of Anakin's blue dot. Rex glanced from the map to the caped figure still springing across rooftops.

"Wait... then who are _we_ chasing?"

"There are plenty of guilty people in these parts; take your pick," Denal said with a shrug.

"Turn around!" cried Ahsoka. Minutes later, their hover taxi zoomed back down the street of the diner and the five credit store. Echo and Fives, loitering in the same alleyway, quickly hopped on board when they saw their captain. Ahsoka shouted directions to Rex, who piloted the little hover taxi borderline recklessly. They nearly collided twice with other vehicles as they merged into higher altitude traffic lanes. With protests that Rex was going to kill them all, Fives elbowed his way into the pilot's spot.

"Faster! He's getting away!" Ahsoka shouted over the roar of surrounding traffic. Her eyes were glued to the holographic map. The group was once again traveling into the elite section of Coruscant: floating advertisements, skyscrapers, flashing lights... and sirens? All passengers turned back to see a police speeder flying directly behind them.

"You can take the wheel again anytime!" Fives shouted to Rex.

* * *

"And... that's that," the captain finished, staring almost defiantly at Commander Fox.

"You all are lucky there was someone willing to pay your bail. What I wouldn't give to see you in front of your commander when news of this spreads." Fox vented a disgusted noise before exiting, leaving all clones to peer around at the little Togruta.

"Well, Commander? What's the verdict?" asked Rex, grinning. A darker orange color tinted Ahsoka's cheeks.

"Nobody breathe a _word_ of this to _anyone_, understand?" she ordered. "I don't even want to imagine what Anakin would do if he found out..." Two non-clone police officers entered then to escort the group through the station. Their handcuffs were only removed once the five were at the front desk where Obi-Wan Kenobi stood waiting.

"When I said, 'What could possibly be worse than her showing up at a nightclub,'" the Jedi Master told Rex, a hand firmly planted over his eyes, "I wasn't issuing a challenge..."

The group's personal effects were returned to them at the front desk, and Ahsoka took a moment to hide behind Echo and Denal to check the holographic map. Anakin's dot was blinking near the senatorial apartments, where the political banquet was being held. Her shoulders slumped. Maybe he hadn't been lying after all.

The next evening, Ahsoka sat with Captain Rex, Denal, Fives and Echo in the barracks mess hall playing cards. Anakin walked in and gave an exasperated groan.

"Guys, go out and do something with your lives!" he announced, nearing the table. "How can you waste your leave sitting around playing cards?"

"There are worse places to be, sir. I know," Echo announced. Both Fives and Denal, sitting on either side of the trooper, switftly kicked him under the table. A permanent, cheesy smile was plastered on Ahsoka's face.

"Personally, I've had enough of this planet. I'm ready to go back to war," Fives said, Captain Rex next to him nodding his assent.

"Well," started Denal, "I _do_ have some unfinished business with this one cantina here, but no one in the armory will let me sign out a thermal detonator." Anakin looked around warily at all other table occupants to see Rex give an exaggerated roll of his eyes with a shake of his head.

"Fair enough. Cards sound like a great way to pass the time." The general sat down next to his padawan. "Mind if I join?"

* * *

**A.N. Really dialogue heavy, but trooper banter is super fun to write! Also, I featured Denal in this chapter because the poor guy doesn't last very long in season 2. :(**

**I figure Obi-Wan pulled some strings somewhere along the chain of command and that's why Rex and his compatriots didn't get in trouble with the 501st. Good ol' Obi-Wan. Comments, questions, opinions welcome!**


	5. Free hugs

Free hugs

* * *

Ahsoka and Barriss Offee, leaning heavily on armored troopers, limped into the medbay on the _Resolute_ in orbit around Geonosis. Kix directed the group to two side-by-side empty beds; he had been expecting them since General Skywalker himself contacted the medic to brief him on the situation. The two padawans had been caught in the explosion that resulted from their successful destruction of the droid factory, and they were rushed to the closest proper medical facility.

Ahsoka had winced upon entry; the entire ship was well-lit, but there was always something about the medbay that seemed so harsh and unwelcoming. Maybe it was the sterile white color of everything, or how all equipment and beds were strangely cold, even to her naturally cooler body temperature. The Togruta accepted Ox's assistance to help her onto a medbed, unfortunately stiff despite, or maybe even due to, the standard issue cushions. Next to her, Havoc helped Barriss onto the other bed.

"Really," she protested the whole while, "I'm fine. You don't have to take the trouble..." Kix shooed the Tango company clones out of his way as he squeezed between the padawans.

"If you don't mind, Commander, I'll check you out all the same," said the medic.

Not quite an hour later, Barriss and Ahsoka sat in medical gowns under the sheets, covered in bacta patches and quick-healing casts, one on Barriss' leg and another on Ahsoka's arm. Before Kix left to attend to clones injured from the battle planetside, he advised them to remain in the medbay overnight. When Ahsoka scowled at him, he changed it to at least that evening.

"I'm so _bored_," the Togruta huffed. She cast a glance in Barriss' direction to find the Mirialan sitting still, eyes closed, hands primly clasped together on top of her sheet.

"You could always meditate," suggested Barriss in a voice that sounded like it was emanating from a place as distant as her thoughts. Ahsoka pouted.

"But, I'm hungry, too."

"Well, now that you mention it..." Barriss trailed off, opening her eyes. She shared a sympathetic look with her new friend.

The medbay doors slid open to admit two recognizably bald and tattooed clones. They managed to catch their breath as they paused to scan the room; finding an orange face in an overwhelmingly white environment was far from difficult.

"Commander!" Jesse and Hardcase called simultaneously. Both padawans turned, and Ahsoka started slightly when they ended up right next to her bed.

"How are you holding up, sir?" Jesse asked. The clones almost looked taken aback at the patches and the blue cast.

"I'll be good as new soon, guys," she responded with a smile. Suddenly, Hardcase threw his arms around the Togruta in a hug, to the surprise of the others. Barriss stared; Ahsoka's arms hung in indecision; Jesse tried to pry them apart.

"Hardcase!" he cried. "Do you have a death wish?! You can't hug the commander!" He only succeeded in separating them after the Togruta hugged the trooper back. Hardcase looked unrepentant. Ahsoka laughed.

Jesse smacked his brother's shoulder, hissing, "_Apologize, __di'kut_."

"No, it's fine," Ahsoka said through the final giggles. She looked up at Jesse with that devious twinkle in her eyes. "Do I get a hug from you, too?" In contrast to their pristine surroundings, Jesse's flush was obvious.

Hardcase smacked the stunned clone's back. "That's practically an order, _di'kut_." Awkwardly, Jesse leaned over and gave the padawan the softest hug on record in the galaxy. He pulled away quickly and edged around Hardcase, placing Hardcase between himself and their commander.

"Thanks for visiting, guys. It's nice to see familiar faces."

"You're in the right army for familiar faces, sir," Hardcase said, scanning the other medbay occupants. "Oh, Nurv!" And with that he was gone to the bedside of a clone with worse injuries than the padawans. Jesse winced.

"He doesn't mean to be rude, Commander. He's just... special. We hope you feel better soon, sir," the trooper said before following his oblivious brother.

Barriss watched them move to the opposite side of the medbay, then returned her gaze to Ahsoka. "I've never seen clones act like that!" she practically gasped. "Is this normal for them?"

The doors opened again to admit Edge, Pulsar, and Trap. Their first stop was the Togruta's bedside, as well.

"Commander, we heard rumors you were in here," Pulsar said with a serious expression. This group also paused to take in her extensive bandages.

"Don't worry. It looks worse than it is," Ahsoka said, adding an aloof shrug. Barriss quirked an eyebrow when the Togruta, with noticeable effort, held out her arms expectantly. The other eyebrow lifted when Trap responded with a hug. Pulsar and Edge, not to be outdone, hugged their little commander in turn. They offered Barriss only a cordial nod and continued farther into the medbay to visit their brothers.

"Honestly, are all your clones so..." Barriss seemed at a loss for words. She finally settled on, "chummy?"

Ahsoka wore a wide grin. "What? We've been through a lot together."

The Mirialan studied her chipper neighbor with knitted brows. "I often assist my master's troops, and none of them are this forward."

"Maybe you just need to get to know them better," Ahsoka suggested. All five healthy clones left the medbay together, waving and sending well-wishes to their commander.

Barriss slid carefully under her sheet and she had just closed her eyes with a definitive sigh when Ahsoka asked, "So, how do you like working with Master Unduli? You two seem to get along well."

"Yes," the Mirialan replied with her first smile since landing on the _Resolute_. "She is the source of invaluable knowledge for me. She has taught me advanced lightsaber techniques, deeper meditation, and a more intimate understanding of the Force."

Ahsoka watched her new friend's peaceful expression and envied how Jedi-like she looked. Barriss emulated her master's calm presence in every situation Ahsoka had seen her in so far. If Barriss had not been introduced as a padawan, the Togruta would have assumed her a Knight already. The Togruta couldn't help but wonder how she compared to such an accomplished padawan. Barriss had a refined fighting form, an extensive grasp of the Force, and the temperament most beloved by the Jedi order: a humble passivity. Ahsoka easily imagined Barriss leading troops through instances where no choice was too difficult for her cultivated mind to make.

"I get a lot of on-the-job-training," Ahsoka spoke up. "I'm still learning the forms, but I've adapted some to suit my particular style."

"Ah. I've heard your master is a proficient warrior. But if your training is battlefield-centric, you will be somewhat deficient when we transition back to our old ways."

"I can see myself using what I've learned from my master all the rest of my life," Ahsoka defended quickly.

"Once this war is over we won't be commanders leading soldiers anymore. We'll be peacekeepers again. Balanced," explained Barriss calmly. If she sensed Ahsoka's irritation, she did not let on.

"Who knows how long this war will last? Might go on for years still," the Togruta practically grumbled.

"All wars end, Ahsoka." The Mirialan conveyed a faint, friendly smile before leaning back on her bed.

On several occasions, Ahsoka had tried imagining a Jedi life on the other side of this war but quickly realized she couldn't; life as a warrior was all she knew. The Togruta had been raised and trained in the Temple on a planet shuddering under the threat of impending galactic war. It would be naïve to think that pervading societal fears had had no effect on her upbringing and subsequent training. The Jedi she was now was the direct product of an antebellum Jedi Order. Maybe one day she would find herself unprepared for a world after traumatic galactic warfare, but she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

By now the medbay was quiet. A handful of machines and scanners hummed and occasionally beeped at monitored progress, but these noises were centered around the injured clones on the other side of the bay. Barriss breathed deeply, eyes closed. Ahsoka couldn't tell if she was sleeping or meditating or both.

The white doors opened then for Echo and Fives, helmets hooked on their belts. Ahsoka once again perked up when they stopped at her bedside.

"Commander, we just got back," Fives said in a voice that would've woken Barriss had she been sleeping. "Wanted to check on you and make sure you're all right."

"You did some real work on that factory, sir," said Echo, smiling. "You saved all our hides out there." Barriss opened her eyes then and caught Echo's gaze; he quickly added, "Er... you both did."

"Just like any other day," teased Ahsoka.

"Is there anything we can get you, Commander?" Fives asked. Echo nudged his brother before adding on his behalf, "Either of you?" The padawans exchanged glances.

"Well," Ahsoka began hesitantly, "we are kind of hungry..."

"And we aren't permitted to leave," said Barriss. Whether or not her pout was on purpose was anyone's guess. The two clones snapped to attention and saluted before leaving with promises of delivering food.

Not fifteen minutes later they returned, each carrying a tray from the mess hall.

"Cooking droid nearly short-circuited when we tried to leave the mess with these," Fives chuckled, offering his tray to Ahsoka. She snatched it out of his hands; Barriss received her tray from Echo with a grateful smile and incline of her head.

"Yeah," laughed Echo. "They may have wheels, but they're not very fast." His expression suddenly turned serious. "We'll have to return these, of course."

The Togruta grinned. "Thanks, you guys!" With some effort, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Fives' shoulders. Ahsoka didn't let go until the wide-eyed clone hugged her back, then she held her arms out to his brother, standing a little out of her reach. Echo was quicker to catch on, but gave a weaker hug. However, in the end he was glowing the same shade as Fives.

"How hard did that factory land on you, Commander?" chuckled Fives. The two clones stayed to chat with Ahsoka, and even with Barriss when she responded, long enough that the girls were still eating by the time Anakin and Luminara Unduli walked in. Anakin appeared to exhibit the same wincing reaction as Ahsoka upon entering the medbay. The masters attended to their respective padawans and the clones automatically cleared out.

The masters spent considerably less time in the medbay than the previous guests because they had business to attend to on the bridge, but they made it clear they desired the padawans to remain there overnight. They left as Coric entered; the medic halted at the sight of two food trays laying discarded on the sheets.

"What are those doing in my medbay?!"

* * *

Despite Ahsoka's perky demeanor and discomfort with the brightness in the room, she was the first one to fall asleep. The Togruta could have sworn she had strange dreams which fled to the periphery of her consciousness when she woke in the night hours. Something about a comforting figure watching over her while she slept. Barriss? Anakin? A hand on her shoulder. Or was it touching her lek? A hand squeezing hers.

When Ahsoka woke, the medbay lights were dim, the medical robots were recharging for the night, and everyone else appeared asleep. The padawan reached over to check the chrono on her commlink only to remember she wore a blue cast instead. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, wondering what could have possibly interrupted her sleep. She noticed the trays were gone.

The medbay doors whooshing open in that shadowy environment sounded ten times louder than they did when the lights in the room were obscenely bright, and Ahsoka wondered how everyone else could go on sleeping after that racket. The padawan forgot all irritation when she realized Captain Rex walked in. He passed her, the only one in the room sitting bolt upright, to check on the wounded clones. All were asleep, and a few minutes later the Captain wound up at Ahsoka's bedside.

"What're you doing awake, kid?" he whispered, resting his helmet on the corner of her bed.

"Can't sleep," she replied with a limp shrug. "What time is it?"

Rex didn't even have to check his chrono. "Not long past midnight. How are you feeling?"

"Better. A lot of guys checked in on me... us," Ahsoka said, finally remembering her friend in the next bed over. "I'm surprised you took so long to visit!" The Togruta crinkled her nose at Rex in the way that always elicited a chuckle from him. It worked.

"Some of us have a job to do around here, littl'un. Paperwork, more paperwork, medal ceremonies... memorials." His voice almost failed at the end. The captain looked down at his gloved hands and began distractedly running his fingers along the edge of the medbed. Ahsoka extended a hand only to find he was just out of reach.

"Rex..."

He looked up at her arms, an open invitation. A quizzical look followed.

"I've hugged all the clones that visited me today," Ahsoka said in an effort to ease his hesitation.

Rex rubbed a hand over his exhausted face, almost chuckling, "Of course you have."

Her arms remained out. "Off-duty hours," she reminded him. Rex jerked slightly, as if he was about to close the distance but balked. Her bacta-covered arms wobbled; the one encased in the cast sunk a little lower.

"It hurts to hold this pose," sighed the frustrated Togruta. A second later armor pressed against her, nearly hard enough to knock her backwards if it wasn't for the dirt-sullied white arms already wrapped around her back, supporting her. None of the hugs that day had been comfortable, but Ahsoka still enjoyed each one because they conveyed feelings of compassion and appreciation better than words, and the clones greatly appreciated their commander after her success planetside.

Ahsoka gingerly set her wounded arms around the captain's neck and let her forehead rest just below his jaw, her face on his pauldron. The thick human smell on his neck was a dead giveaway that he had yet to use the refresher, but it was a smell she was beginning to associate with hard work; battles and triumphs; with Rex. The tight embrace was reassuring and comforting; Ahsoka found herself wondering what a hug sans armor would feel like.

Rex pulled away quickly, clearing his throat. "Anyway, just wanted to check in on you, kid. Still more to do before tomorrow." He swiped up his helmet and nodded farewell. "Hurry and heal- we need you back." The captain left the medbay and his commander with a large grin on her face.

Once the doors closed, Barriss quietly stirred, lifting her head. "That's the third time he's been in to see you tonight," she whispered sleepily.

"Captain Rex?" asked the Togruta, almost forgetting her injuries for the speed at which she snapped around to stare at the yawning padawan.

"The blond one," the Mirialan stated simply before settling down again. "But this was the shortest he stayed."

* * *

**A.N. Tango company cameos! Because they get royally screwed over in the Brain Invaders episode. My poor Ox. **

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	6. Meditation

Meditation

* * *

Ahsoka was glad to be back on the _Resolute_ after nearly a day on the medical station near Ord Cestus. The journey there from Geonosis had been disastrous, like most things the Togruta was put in charge of, it seemed. Her ship had been sabotaged by Geonosian parasites infecting the clones and Padawan Barriss Offee, leaving Ahsoka to incapacitate them all with freezing temperatures from the ruptured coolant system. After this period in yet another medbay, her master returned with his fleet to finish the rest of the mission of delivering medical supplies to Mace Windu. Luminara Unduli and Obi-wan Kenobi were guests aboard the _Resolute_, bound to rendezvous with their own fleets upon reaching Dantooine.

Ahsoka nearly ran down the narrow corridors around the sleeping cabins, Barriss Offee in tow. "And _this_ will be our cabin! We have our own personal refresher! Do you like the pictures? I have the room to myself most of the time because usually I'm the only girl aboard, but that can get pretty boring." The Togruta tossed herself onto her bed inset into one wall. She had claimed the lower half of a bunk bed; an identical bunk rested inside the opposite wall and a small table stood in between the two. On the far side of the unused bunk was a door leading to the refresher Ahsoka was so happy about. There was a red rug sprawled out in the back of the room for meditation. Several crooked pictures were plastered to the wall: a couple landscape pictures of different planets, a popular singer from Coruscant, and the wildlife on Naboo. A small holopic projected from a black device on the short table of Ahsoka amongst a group of smiling clones.

"You've really made it into your home," Barriss said. "Mine is not half as decorated as this... although I _do_ share mine with my master. I don't imagine she would allow much."

Ahsoka propped herself up on an elbow. "Would you like a tour of the ship?"

"Is it different from other Venator-class ships?"

"No, but it's either that or find our masters and see what they've got for us to do."

"Ah. A tour sounds perfect!"

The Togruta beamed. Although Barriss seemed lightyears ahead of her in the Force sometimes, the rare moments when she relaxed and resembled an ordinary teenager made Ahsoka feel like she could relate to this padawan more than anyone else in the Jedi Order.

Ahsoka was not at a loss for stories to regale Barriss with as they walked: the most exhilarating space battles the _Resolute_ had partaken in, the time she had been the cause of Admiral Yularen's longest stint in the medbay, and the time a trooper snuck a juvenile greysor aboard, infesting half the crew with fleas.

They eventually wound up in the mess hall which appeared to be a popular destination at this hour. The food line was already decently long and more than half of the tables were full. Among the crowd were Hardcase and Appo, sitting at a table with Ox and Edge. The former pair was peppering the Tango company troopers with questions. Edge, one of the most recognizable soldiers in Tango with his white hair and small tattoo above his left eyebrow, kept his blue eyes staring at his food tray, while Ox, dark hair long enough to be combed back, continually tried to change the subject. Hardcase, already facing the door, perked up when the padawans entered.

"There's the commander! I'll ask her," he told the group before leaving them. Ox and Edge hid their gazes entirely.

"Sir!" Hardcase said, coming up behind the girls. "Tango's not telling us a thing and we _really_ want to know what those brain-worms were like. Appo thinks they're about the size of a hand, but I think they're like... a meter, at least." He leaned forward in bated anticipation, smiling.

"Not quite that long," Ahsoka said, wearing a smirk to match. Barriss' neutral expression quickly darkened into a regret-tinged wince. She edged around the Togruta and continued on to the food line. Ahsoka realized all too late that Barriss was probably uncomfortable discussing or even hearing about the event that had taken control of her mind and body. Apparently, Tango company shared her discomfort.

"How are ya doin' by the way, sir?" Hardcase asked, reclaiming the padawan's attention.

"It's not as bad as it was after Geonosis, that's for sure," Ahsoka responded. She cast a quick glance in Barriss' direction to see none of the clones around her even attempt to talk to her; the Mirialan stood alone among groups of friendly soldiers. "I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?"

"We're glad you're back, commander." Hardcase threw his arms wide like he was going to hug her, but a moment later his hands diverted, one to his head and one to his waist, in a spectacularly awkward fumble. "Oh, right, forgot," he muttered. "I'll, uh... see you around, sir."

"Hardcase?" Ahsoka asked with only half a smile; she wasn't sure whether to expect something comical or serious. Despite Hardcase's assurances that it was nothing, the Togruta would not let him return to his table until he explained himself.

"Well," he began, shrugging nervously, "the captain... sort of... banned us from hugging... you."

Ahsoka's white eye markings melded into a single, disapproving line. "Oh, did he?"

After the padawans ate, Ahsoka led Barriss to the ship's training room, a large space housing a short firing range, a scrimmage ring, and various exercise equipment. It was well in use. "The great thing about this place is, it used to be an extra cargo room that we never used. The troopers made this from scratch," bragged the Togruta.

"Even the exercise machines?"

"Oh... the guys sort of stole all that from Coruscant. It's why Commander Fox doesn't exactly like the 501st."

"No, I'd imagine not."

The doors opened directly behind them for Havoc and Pulsar. Both clones sported goatees and long sideburns, but Pulsar's sideburns were faddishly unconnected. They wore minimal work out clothes and turned in the direction of the exercise corner but stopped upon seeing the padawans directly in their path. Barriss was the first to notice them. Her hand flew to Ahsoka's arm to grab her attention while the two clones exchanged glances.

"Commander," Pulsar began slowly. "It's good to see you both up and around after..."

"How are you all doing?" asked Ahsoka.

Pulsar shrugged. "As well as can be expected. Scythe hasn't left our cabin since we boarded. We're just waiting to hear what disciplinary action higher decides for us."

Ahsoka's features contorted into worry. "Disciplined? For what? You were under mind control– you can't be held responsible for that!" The clones shifted uncomfortably under her narrowing gaze.

"It is what it is, sir," Havoc said quietly. With final nods, they withdrew to the exercise corner. After a few moments, the Togruta turned her gaze from the Tango company soldiers to Barriss, as if finally remembering the other padawan was present.

"Oh, ahm... what would you like to do now?"

Barriss glanced around the training room, observing all the soldiers, familiar faces unknown to her. "I would like a chance to meditate, Ahsoka. Ever since... the ordeal, I haven't had time to really find balance again."

"That's a good idea," the Togruta said. She led the Mirialan back to her cabin where they settled on opposite sides of the red carpet. Barriss appeared to collapse into her cross-legged pose as naturally as breathing while Ahsoka fidgeted every now and then, correcting posture, scratching a montral, exhaling dissatisfaction. About ten minutes in, she spoke. "Do you meditate with candles? I have candles."

Barriss' facial expressions responded first, her eyebrows rising slightly, but her eyes remained closed. Her voice followed. "Hmm? If you need them..." The Mirialan kept her eyes shut through Ahsoka's noisy bustling about the room, including dragging the small table closer to the carpet despite its metallic scraping sounds of protest.

Finally, Ahsoka sat back down in her original spot. She regained her meditative pose but let one eye open to look at Barriss. "I hope you like it. Blue Corellian Kalla Flowers."

Barriss appeared to inhale deeper than before. "Oh, that _is_ quite lovely." Silence descended once again.

Ahsoka was determined to meditate as well as Barriss. All she had to do was clear her mind of any and all distractions, like her fear for Tango, her confusion from Hardcase's admission, and her feelings of inadequacy sitting next to a near-prodigy like Barriss. Focus. Focus on something steady. Like breathing. Or the candle's smell.

About a half hour later of not quite freeing herself from the physical, Ahsoka's fidgeting returned. She tried to correct a slouch by stretching her stiff back; she scratched her nose; she cracked her knuckles. The Togruta started when she felt a hand on her knee. Barriss was looking straight at her.

"Ahsoka. I can feel your concern and I know your proactive behavior. Even if meditation could bring you peace, it won't correct the problem. Go see to your soldiers." She mirrored Ahsoka's relieved smile. The Togruta was on her feet in an instant and out the door the next. Barriss leaned forward to drag the candle closer to her side of the table before settling back into meditation.

Ahsoka eventually found Tango's sleeping cabin based on other clones' sketchy directions. She knocked twice but received no answer. She opened the door to a dimly lit cabin; the overheads were off, but the perpetually shining tiny lights along the edges of the floor graced the lower half of the room with a synthetic haze. The rest of the room was lost to darkness. The cabin was about the same size as Ahsoka's except with four bunks set into the walls. The remaining space was reserved for stowing gear. The thick smell of humans seemed to emanate from everywhere. There was only one trooper in the cabin, lying in one of the furthest bottom bunks, limbs splayed haphazardly, one arm tossed over his face. He was only in his undersuit.

"Scythe?" Ahsoka broached carefully, inching inside. He peered out from under his arm before jolting into a seated position, a hunch to his shoulders resembling a cornered animal. Scythe ran a hand over his bald head, hesitantly raising his gaze to look her in the eyes.

"Wasn't expecting a visit from you, Commander," he said, equally carefully. His furrowed brow distorted his tiger tattoo. "Can I help you?"

"I wanted to check in on you. See how you're doing." Ahsoka stopped halfway inside the room to give the man space.

"Just biding my time until we get back to Coruscant, sir. Figure they'll sort me out there."

"Scythe, you're a victim as much as anyone else. Don't be so hard on yourself."

The trooper absently laced his fingers together, letting his gaze fall to the ground. "When we're manufactured for one job and then something like this happens, we look... defective. And if no corrective actions are taken, it'll bring down group cohesion. No one wants to work with _that_ soldier. No one can trust _him_ to have their backs anymore." Ahsoka closed the distance to crouch next to Scythe's bunk and rest a hand on both of his. His gaze remained locked on the ground, as if staring right through.

"For what it's worth, sir, I'm sorry," Scythe practically whispered. The cabin door sighed open then for Ox and Edge. Both clones seemed to balk when they saw who was inside, but they silently crawled into their own bunks closest to the door all the same.

"Don't apologize. You _will_ get through this. Spend time with the other soldiers. No one here blames you guys," Ahsoka said softly, patting his interlocked hands before standing. "And you're not defective. This could have happened to anyone, even Jedi." Scythe only nodded dumbly. Ahsoka cast one last sympathetic look across the soldier before moving to the first set of bunks where Ox and Edge reclined on either side of the cabin. Edge was reading a holozine, Ox appeared to be sleeping facing the wall.

"You two have been avoiding me," the Togruta told them flatly. She propped an elbow on the wall next to Edge's bunk and watched as he chanced to peek in her direction. Ahsoka stared at him curiously with the faintest smile on her face. "Despite the rumors my master started, I don't bite."

Edge let his holozine fall onto the bunk as his head thumped back against the wall. "We've kept our distance in case you didn't want to see us, sir. After all, we're the ones who attacked you in the mess. We're the ones who murdered our own brothers. What could you possibly want to say to us?"

"That I forgive you," responded Ahsoka. "That I never blamed you, once we knew what was actually happening." She held Edge's disbelieving gaze. Although Ahsoka had always rolled her eyes when Anakin teased her for having a "far too sincere" natural expression, she hoped that for once that look shone through.

"We have our brothers' blood on our hands," Ox muttered, his voice somewhat projected by the wall. "That doesn't wash out."

Ahsoka looked from one clone to the other; the self-loathing she could feel flowing from them, choking out any other emotion in the room, depressed her own mood. They seemed determined to not be cheered up. She vented a sigh. "Okay, all of you, with me!"

* * *

"You want me to what?" asked Barriss, her wide-eyed gaze darting from the Togruta to all three clones standing behind her in Ahsoka's cabin. It was a wonder they all fit as well as they did, considering Ox and Edge still wore their armor.

"I want you to teach them how to meditate. And I think you're far more qualified than I am to instruct people on the intricacies of meditation. But if there was ever a group in need of soul-searching, this is it," Ahsoka explained. The Togruta had noticed how on-edge Barriss acted around Tango company since "the ordeal," but Ahsoka hoped that she would be benevolent enough to push aside her discomfort in order to help others in need.

"And just where will you be in all of this?" Barriss continued. The Togruta was already directing the three troopers to sit on different spots on the red carpet. The soldiers obeyed and awkwardly folded their legs into the same pose as Barriss. They remained quiet, but there was ample exchanging of glances accompanied by several shrugs.

"I have one more thing to take care of," Ahsoka said. "And then I promise to come back."

Once she left the cabin, Barriss inhaled a steadying breath before looking at each clone in turn. "Do you like candles?"

* * *

"You want me to what?" Captain Rex asked from behind the half-cluttered desk in his cabin office. He had a larger personal room than everyone else, but half of it was an official workspace and the other half was his bunk and gear. He held his cup of caf in midair, possibly having forgotten it after his commander's last question.

"Pull some strings! Help Tango out. They're all facing a court martial for this and they don't deserve it," Ahsoka explained.

Rex remembered his caf enough to set it back on the table. He instinctively found a clear spot for it between discarded datapads and his helmet."You don't know what you're asking, kid. And even if that _was_ possible, what could I accomplish at this level? Remember, _you_ outrank _me_."

"And just like _you_ said all those planets ago, experience outranks everything! You know your military regulations better than I do."

"Because you never read them," the captain said. He sat back in his chair and tossed his hands helplessly in the air. "They're going to a military tribunal. I can't do anything for them. I've got three clones dead in all of this– someone has to answer for it."

"But it wasn't technically _them_."

"Well, I can't have a Jedi stand trial for it."

"I wasn't even suggesting that," Ahsoka said, wide eyes framed by white marks bent in worry. She couldn't imagine Barriss being accused of killing Trap; after all the Mirialan had acted in self-defense when Trap tried to attack her.

"I understand Tango wasn't in their right minds, and maybe the tribunal will see it that way. But here, from my position within the 501st, I can't help them; and I certainly can't issue full pardons like you first wanted," Rex said, picking his caf back up. Ahsoka approached the desk and steadied herself on the hard surface, letting her head sink down until her chin touched her chest. Rex took a drink before adding solemnly, "You can't save everyone, kid."

"That won't stop me from trying." Her decisive words contrasted with her remorseful voice.

"And that's why we like you so much, littl'un."

Ahsoka's head bounced back up. "Oh, speaking of that..." A guarded expression immediately slid across Rex's face. "Is there any specific reason why the men are... what was the word? 'Banned' from hugging me?"

The captain rolled his eyes. "Okay, who broke?"

"I never reveal my sources," Ahsoka said with mock condescendence. "But I want to know why you gave that order."

"Because it's not normally something Jedi do and I don't want you getting in trouble with your Order because you're trying too hard to be a soldier. You're a Jedi first. The general doesn't hug anyone. You never see Master Yoda hugging," Rex explained before taking another sip from his cup.

"Master Yoda's little arms are too small to fit around anyone!" Ahsoka retorted, expression completely serious. Rex choked on his caf. The padawan continued, unfazed, "And my master has hugged me before."

"Oh really? When?" Rex hid the grin cracking on his face behind his cup as the Togruta thought hard, trying to recall. The captain just nodded. "That's what I figured."

"That doesn't change the fact that your order is completely baseless and all it's doing is separating me from the troopers when I'm–"

"Get out of my office, kid," Rex interrupted. He set the cup down to point to the door. "Out."

"Next time anyone asks, I'm overriding your order, Rexter," Ahsoka said simply, fighting the smallest pout.

"Out!"

* * *

Barriss was meditating alone in the cabin when Ahsoka returned, shoulders slumped. The Togruta took her original seat on the red carpet, folded her legs and vented a sharp breath. She glanced about the room before asking, "Where's everyone?"

"The soldiers aren't used to meditation; they got twitchy far quicker than you and left," Barriss replied with half a smirk.

A laugh softened Ahsoka's irritated features. "How'd they do? Did meditation help at all?"

"The one with the tattoo on his forehead... Scythe? I believe he benefited the most from it. The other two were more enamored by that candle. However, they all left a little more at ease." Barriss watched Ahsoka's poorly contained smile. "You have a strong connection with your soldiers. You truly look out for them."

"They're not just my soldiers. They're my friends. I'll always do what I can to help them." Her expression melted soon into a frown as recent events replayed in her head. Ahsoka closed her eyes, took another deep breath and let her mind close off to the world. Now that she had tried what she could to solve the problem, all that was left was to come to terms with the unfortunate situation and find peace in an unforgiving galaxy.

Barriss once more reached forward to rest a hand on Ahsoka's knee, startling the Togruta's eyes open. "You know, I really respect you, Ahsoka," the Mirialan said with a smile. "I never got to thank you for what you did. I owe you my life, and I want you to understand that's not a debt I take lightly. I know what I said in the medbay after Geonosis, but I'm glad your master taught you to be so proficient with a lightsaber." Ahsoka couldn't help but share her smile.

"I think you're my first female friend," said the Togruta. It seemed like the only appropriate response. As both padawans regained a meditative posture, Ahsoka's gaze fell on the table. "Where's my candle?"

Barriss gave a sheepish grin. "Oh... yes. The clones took it when they left. They wanted me to tell you, 'No hard feelings, but this cabin doesn't smell like it really needs it anyhow.'"

* * *

**A.N. I always wondered what happened to clones that broke the rules, like Tango, Slick, and Dogma. They showed what happened to Tup, but his was a different circumstance altogether.**


	7. Green Eyes

Green Eyes

* * *

The Kaminoans never purposely created it, and if they had given it any attention they would hardly have taken credit for it, either. Their most valuable creation yet, the clone army, had one unexpected by-product: they were a frighteningly accurate and efficient rumor mill. Private communication within the confines of their helmets helped the soldiers spread gossip, but they were also known to huddle in small groups about the ship, sharing bits and pieces of information they learned throughout their daily routines.

Ahsoka noticed one small group, helmets on their belts, gathered to one side of a corridor near the sleeping cabins as she headed to the bridge for the first time since boarding.

"Are you sure?" one clone whispered.

"Yeah, heard it from Nurv, who heard it from Appo, who said he saw her!"

"Appo's a reliable source," the third soldier agreed.

Closer to the bridge, more groups were huddled down different halls. The soldiers thought they were being quiet, but Tortugan montrals were much more sensitive than human ears. While attempting not to eavesdrop, the padawan caught whispers of, "Is she really here?" "How long is she with us?" and "I can't _wait_ to see her!"

Since when was there another female among the 501st? It was obvious the soldiers weren't talking about Ahsoka. She walked by Jesse, Kix, and Hardcase in one corridor and their conversation immediately puttered out. The clones acknowledged her presence with only nods and friendly smiles instead of the cheery greetings and conversations they normally spared her at the start of a mission. Once she passed, they quickly sank back into their whispered gossip about that ambiguous, illustrious _her_. The Togruta squared her shoulders and quickened her pace.

Ahsoka stepped foot on the bridge and found _her_. Standing with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin and Admiral Yularen were Commander Bly and Aayla Secura. Ahsoka felt like running back through the corridors and smacking each gossiping clone upside the head. Were they really so enamored by a Twi'lek Jedi? _Why_? After all, most of them had served with General Secura before. Although it miffed Ahsoka that she was apparently the only one out of the loop, the clones' star-struck attitudes ate at her even more.

"Snips! There you are," Anakin called. He broke away from the high-ranking group at the navigation console to approach his padawan. Ahsoka's expression must have been clouded with more confusion than she realized, because her master explained, "The fleet is transporting General Secura and a handful of the 327th to Bothawui while we go to Taloraan." Skywalker and Kenobi's diplomatic mission to the Republic-leaning planet of Taloraan was to ensure continuation of the badly needed shipments of tibanna, an agent that maximized blaster weapon damage. It was only supposed to be the masters and Ahsoka landing on the planet, for which they would depart the fleet in a shuttle once they reached orbit.

Ahsoka looked at her master quizzically. "I'm not up-to-date on all my star charts, but I'm pretty sure Bothawui and Taloraan are nowhere near each other." She glanced at Secura and Bly, almost sizing them up, her shoulders tense. "And last I checked, Master Secura had her _own_ fleet."

"Stow the attitude, young one," Anakin said. With no effort toward intimidation, he towered over his padawan, his arms folded across his chest. "Her fleet is occupied at the moment. We were the first to ship out since the Zillo beast incident shut down travel, so we're giving them a lift. Is this going to be a problem?" His hard gaze cowed the fight out of her. Anakin tossed his head towards the door. "You can work out your emotions in the training room."

The most gossip spread where the most clones gathered. The workout corner in the training room, always popular with the troopers, was teeming with talk of _her_. Most of the soldiers had completely given up the illusion of working out in favor of just sitting on the machines and prattling with each other. Luckily, their chatter didn't reach as far as the empty scrimmage ring, even for Ahsoka's montrals. As she stretched on the mat, a soldier entered her peripheral vision to lean against a corner post of the ring.

"Need a training partner?" he asked. Ahsoka looked over and smiled at Fives in his painted armor.

"My master says I need to 'work out my emotions.' How's your hand-to-hand fighting?"

Fives' right eye noticeably twitched. "Y'know, I think Echo's not busy..."

"Fives!"

The clone gave a quick roll of his eyes before ducking under the single perimeter fibra-rope, setting his helmet down in the corner. "The last time I helped you, I left with a concussion."

GAR-perfected disarmed fighting favored using elbows and knees against an opponent's weak points. It required almost constant close contact, utterly different from Ahsoka's training in the temple, which relied on evasion more than anything else. It was challenging for her in its disparity, but the Togruta was adamant about learning as many styles of fighting as possible. The two started slow, practicing the forms Ahsoka was least familiar with first as she recalled the motions. Even if she were hitting hard, the armored clone felt little of it. There was much instruction from Fives, one of the better grapplers in the 501st, but hardly any conversation. Their movement steadily picked up speed.

"Fives, have you heard about anyone new onboard?" the Togruta asked finally, tapping her elbow to his sternum. It hit his chestplate with a dull _thump_. Fives trapped her in an arm bar within two moves.

"You mean the rumor that there's a woman on the ship?" he returned. Ahsoka straightened, disentangling herself and backing away from her partner a pace. In answer to Fives' uncomprehending expression, Ahsoka gestured to her own body.

"I meant a real woman, kid."

She crossed her arms; her white eye markings fell into a straight line. A laugh came from over Fives' shoulder as Echo approached the scrimmage ring, his helmet nestled under one arm. He propped an elbow on a corner post and let his arm rest along the fibra-rope.

"You need to give him a minute to remove the foot from his mouth, sir," Echo said, smiling at his glaring brother.

"Don't get all offended!" Fives retorted. "You know what I'm trying to say. How did we even get on this topic?"

"Why is everyone so excited about this? I've never seen so many secretive huddles on the ship before," Ahsoka huffed. Despite her childish pout, there was a belligerent slant to her eye markings. Fives and Echo exchanged irresolute stares before the former muddled through an answer.

"She has this..." he paused to think, his hands bouncing at chest level, palms facing his body and fingers splayed, "presence. A prominent... strength of character." Echo hid his laugh in a snort. Ahsoka's eye markings sunk to a dangerous angle.

A group of clones in full kit entered the training room then, preoccupied with their own conversations. Ahsoka couldn't help thinking they reminded her of younglings enamored with sharing new secrets on their way to lessons in the Temple. Echo, watching them curiously, slipped his helmet on, only to chuckle through the vents moments later.

"Looks like we're going to be graced with the general's presence soon enough."

Fives' immediate smile was forced off his face when Ahsoka's elbow caught him hard in the side of his jaw. The clone stumbled away from her, swearing into his hand.

"Oh, thought you were paying attention," she scoffed over her shoulder, ambling to the opposite side of the ring. Her unrepentant air earned a scowl from him. The Togruta put her hands on her hips and tossed her gaze from one soldier to the other. "Since when is everyone like this about a woman?" Ahsoka asked.

"What do you mean 'since when?'" Fives wiggled his chin with his hand to ensure it still worked. "Oh right," he said distractedly, "you're not allowed at the clubs."

"Don't antagonize her," Echo quickly interceded. It was surprising he was paying any attention to the conversation; with his visor angled downward, it appeared he was preoccupied with the information sharing happening inside his helmet.

"Gonna stay in there all day?" Fives asked his brother. He started circling the ring cautiously, keeping Ahsoka in his sights at all times now.

"What? This is good intel."

Not long after the two began scrimmaging again, General Secura, flanked by Commander Bly and Captain Rex, entered the training room. The Twi'lek gave the area a quick inspection from near the door before conferring with her second in command. Noticeably, a majority of the 501st clones stopped what they were doing to watch the Jedi, including Fives and Echo; the latter spun around to view her. Moments later, a swinging kick to Fives' calves knocked him flat on his back.

"Blast it, kid, if I'm not lookin' at you, I'm not ready!" He slowly got to his feet, muttering, "You're gonna be the death of me." Ahsoka paced territorially at the opposite side of the ring. Despite the flare of his temper, she could feel his anger dwindle away when he looked back at the Twi'lek.

Ahsoka folded her arms across her chest as three clones in their workout uniforms joined Echo at the perimeter of the ring, having migrated from the far-off exercise corner. The sniper team, Gamma and Longshot, and one of the newer faces in the 501st, Tup, took this opportunity of their well-positioned teammates to better watch General Secura. They all leaned on the perimeter fibra-rope, not one interested in the fighters inside.

"Think the 327th needs a sniper? I volunteer," Longshot intoned to his brother. Devious grins broke across both their faces. A second later, Secura spun on her heel and marched out of the training room, Bly and Rex right behind her. A significant pause settled on the room until the doors closed, then each soldier seemed to remember what he had been doing before the Twi'lek entered. The three newcomers to the ring immediately grew interested in leaving.

"Wait," Echo said to no one in particular, his helmeted head tilted to the side. "Sounds like the general is rounding up the 327th and coming back to practice with them." The three newcomers suddenly grew interested in staying.

Ahsoka and Fives resumed their sparring. This time, the _whack_s that emanated from limbs meeting armor could plainly be heard throughout most of the open room. Although Fives was clearly the better scrimmager, there was something to be said for the passion with which Ahsoka fought. A small, curious crowd had formed around the scrimmage ring by the time Aayla Secura and her troopers returned to the training room. The majority of the crowd's attention was instantly diverted; their spectrum of nonchalance ranged from casual glances to slack-jaw staring. When even Fives became distracted, Ahsoka vented a perturbed growl and ducked under the perimeter rope. It was very possible that not one clone noticed her leave.

If Ahsoka concentrated, she could feel her master's presence focused around the bridge, so the padawan decided to travel in the opposite direction. She didn't particularly care where she ended up as long as it was nowhere near Anakin. On her way to this yet unknown destination, she passed Rex's office door. And she returned to Rex's office door. The Togruta knocked, waited about half a second, then entered to find the captain standing in only his lower undersuit. He was facing his bunk, his back to her, and Ahsoka tried not to stare at the maroon scar from an old blaster wound just to the right of his spine.

"Oh... um," she stammered as the door closed behind her. Rex swiveled around, his body immediately locking into an aggressive stance only to loosen when he saw his commander fidgeting there.

"W-when did– do you even knock, kid?" With a chiding stare, Rex snatched up his undersuit top from his bunk and pulled it over his head.

"Sorry, got a little ahead of myself, I guess," she said. The Togruta attempted a placating grin with shoulders raised ruefully. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Training room to work out."

Ahsoka's hand flew to check the chrono on her wrist. "You never work out this early," she challenged, eye markings sinking into a dubious expression.

"Bly invited me along." The captain began the quick task of stacking his armor inside the wall panel at the head of his bunk. His movements were well-practiced and fluid. Ahsoka's long silence eventually earned her a curious glance from Rex.

"Everything okay, littl'un?"

She first answered with a hesitant shrug before exclaiming, "Your soldiers are being completely unprofessional out there!"

"_My_ soldiers?" he repeated, closing the panel on his stowed armor. The captain leaned a shoulder against the wall, folding his arms across his chest. "Sorry, have you met the 501st before?"

Ahsoka glared at him. "This isn't funny! The soldiers are being... just... completely childish!" She flung a hand towards the door before mirroring his folded arms. Her scowl deepened when Rex grinned.

"That's the last complaint I'd expect to hear from you."

"Then _control them._ They're fawning over Master Secura every time they see her! It's embarrassing. She _has_ to notice it." Her expression was a mix of offended and pleading.

"They don't really know social propriety. After all, we clones don't have much interaction with females."

Ahsoka's arms fell limp at her side. "What am I, a Wookiee?!"

"Our commander," Rex replied evenly.

"She's a _general_!" cried Ahsoka, grabbing her montrals with both hands in frustration.

"She's a new face and the men are just curious. Give it a day, kid, and their interest will wane. They need time to get used to her."

"Back in the training room, I'm pretty sure it wasn't her _face_ they were all looking at!" To her surprise, Rex burst out laughing with such enthusiasm that he almost doubled over. The Togruta would've been indignant if she wasn't trying to recall how long it had been since she'd actually heard him laugh. Rex walked to within arm's reach of her, still grinning, and leaned down to eye level. His searching her gaze caused a dark flush to spread across Ahsoka's cheeks and lekku.

"Yep," he said decisively. "Don't know why I didn't see it before."

"...What?"

"Green eyes."

Ahsoka's expression melted into a confused pout as the captain straightened. "Noo... my eyes are blue." Rex's chuckle was interrupted by a knock at the door. The door slid open to reveal Anakin standing there, his eyes fixed on Ahsoka before she was even fully revealed. The two Jedi stared at each other silently for a moment, seemingly communicating just as much as they could with words, leaving the captain to stand irrelevantly off to the side.

Finally, Anakin spoke: "I can feel your vexation all the way on the other side of the ship." Rex snuck out of his own office, squeezing past Anakin into the freedom beyond.

"What's got you all bothered, Snips?" her master asked, entering the cabin.

"I'm not bothered." But Anakin's astute stare made her reevaluate her answer. "I'm just... concerned that the troopers are way too infatuated with Master Secura. It's interfering with their routines."

"We're not flying into battle; you can afford them time to slack off every now and then. Force knows they've earned it."

Ahsoka lowered her eyes at that. It was nice to think that the clones wouldn't have to see combat on this trip, considering they had last been involved in defeating the Zillo beast twice in the last standard week alone. And yet, they chose to spend their free time by stalking Master Secura, of all things.

"Are you sure it's just the soldier's perceptions that you're upset about?" Anakin continued. "Maybe having another female on board makes it feel a little competitive?"

Ahsoka kept her eyes down, preferring not to answer because she didn't want to hear herself admit to that. One frustrating quality Anakin had inherited from Obi-Wan was asking questions he already knew the answers to.

"I know it's sometimes easy to react with your emotions, but you can't let them control you. As Jedi, we can't take the easy route, Ahsoka." Anakin laid a reassuring hand on his padawan's shoulder. "Now that we've hit hyperspace, I'm going to be meditating in the next hour if you'd like to join me."

Ahsoka thought it over. "I should go back to the training room where I left the guys–"

"That's not a suggestion."

* * *

Hours later as Ahsoka roamed the halls, she noticed the clones were already back to their normal routines. There were no more huddles with troopers acting like they had a scandalous secret to share. There were just clones bustling to and fro, moving with a purpose as they were trained. She ran into Echo and Charger in full armor and momentarily wondered if gossip was still making its rounds inside their helmets. However, unlike the reactions earlier that day, the clones greeted Ahsoka and asked if she wanted to accompany them to the main hangar as they completed pre-flight diagnostics on the shuttle bound for Taloraan.

Fives, in full gear, was already inspecting the shuttle exterior when the three approached. He gave them a nod, saying, "There you are, commander. Thought we lost you." He handed her a datapad displaying the shuttle's information. Echo and Charger found an extra datapad to share. "Sorry 'bout earlier, sir. We had no idea. The captain had to tell us you were jealous in order for us to realize."

"W-what?" stammered the Togruta. She almost dropped the datapad in her surprise. "I... no! I just... I wanted to spend time with you guys and you were all preoccupied with _her_ and..." She could feel the embarrassment dancing across her face and down into her lekku. She could also practically feel the soldiers' indulgent smirks, but at least those were hidden.

"So, almost exactly like when Commander Offee was on board and you never gave us the time of day, sir?" asked Echo. He was the first to stop distractedly fiddling with a datapad; Fives gave a valiant attempt at still looking somewhat busy.

"But... Barriss was only on the ship once, guys. I've always got time together with you!" Ahsoka responded. The clones, even Charger, forgot the shuttle and stared at her, with their stupid, obvious smirks she just knew were there.

"Wait, _that_ and _this_ are totally different!" she added. A couple of the clones chuckled.

"No, they're not, sir," said Fives. "But it's okay, we'll spend time with you until you have to depart."

* * *

**A.N. The Taloraan mission takes place in the comics, or so the internet tells me. **

**Bah, I couldn't get the flow of this chapter down. Hope y'all liked it regardless!**


	8. Jedi mind trick

Jedi mind trick

* * *

The _Resolute_ traveled down its charted hyperspace lane, giving the crew hours of free time. They were returning to Coruscant after a week of resupplying other bases and fleets, seeing generals like Ki-Adi-Mundi and Aayla Secura face-to-face for the first time in ages. Some clone squads devoted these long voyages to training, others to weapons and armor maintenance, and still others to sleeping.

Ahsoka Tano should have been one of the ones training. Recently, Anakin commented with greater frequency that her fighting form needed to be tightened. However, the two clones she enjoyed training with the most, Echo and Fives, were off learning how to be ARC troopers. So clearly, training was out of the question.

Just before the 501st left Coruscant on this mission, Ahsoka had been at the Jedi Temple learning an exciting new craft: the mind trick. She had picked up a crude form of subconscious persuasion by watching other Jedi awhile ago, but this time she actually learned the basic form by asking Barriss and Master Plo; Anakin still refused to teach her because, "there are more important things to learn first." In other words, he probably assumed she would mind trick everything with a pulse.

But how else was she supposed to practice?

The padawan left her cabin and stalked down the halls. Where to start? Who to start with? She entered the training room, which was large enough to fit a short firing range, a hand-to-hand combat ring, and a sizable workout area with a diverse amount of equipment. Absolutely everything was in use. All the exercise stations in the far corner were taken, a small crowd was encouraging two scrimmagers in the combat ring, and Hardcase was yelling at Kix on the firing range.

"If you can't even shoot straight, how can I trust you as a medic?! The target's right there— it's stationary! And here you think you can operate on me while I'm moving around?" Hardcase waved his arms about outlandishly for emphasis. It looked even stranger with both clones in full kit.

"Are you serious? Do you even know what a medic _does_? Of course you don't! You refuse to be treated! Even that time on Dantooine when you nearly lost an arm! It takes _ditholium_ to sedate you. Y'know what else takes ditholium to be sedated? _Full-kriffing-grown rancors_, you inconsiderate monkey-lizard!" Their helmets cracked against each other as if they were competing in a staring contest through their tinted visors. Three other armored clones from the range ran up to separate them.

Ahsoka edged away from their group to find soldiers in less hostile moods. In the exercise corner, she noticed Longshot performing muscle-ups on a durasteel bar while Gamma watched from below, acting as safety. The Togruta stopped next to the clone with the pattern of wavy lines tattooed across his bald head.

"Always a spotter, huh?" she teased with a grin. Gamma mirrored her expression.

"Always the one not needing extra experience, Commander," he corrected. "Isn't that right, Longy?" Gamma smacked his brother's backside, causing Longshot to drop heavily to the ground.

"I told you before," the sniper shouted, rounding on Gamma, "_stop doing that_!" Longshot had a closely shaved high and tight haircut and appeared to be cultivating a goatee.

Gamma shrugged. "What can I say? You're irresistible. Get back up there." Ahsoka giggled to herself as Longshot jumped up and grabbed the bar. The Togruta watched him struggle to successfully pull his upper body over the bar, then fall back into a hanging position to start from the beginning. She looked at Gamma, a calculating twinkle in her eye, and tossed a hand near his distracted face.

"You're hungry. You want to go to the mess hall." Her inflection could've passed for a question.

Gamma rested his hands on his hips, eyes only on his brother. "I dunno, you hungry, vod? I haven't eaten yet today."

"I'm always hungry," Longshot vented between grunts before dropping to the ground again. "Let's get something." Ahsoka smiled faintly. Was this what the Jedi mind trick was supposed to feel like?

Ahsoka separated from the sniper team after lunch when they decided to head back to their cabin because she still wanted to perfect her technique. In one corridor she ran into Tup, always easy to distinguish from other clones by his long hair pulled back into a bun.

"Commander!" he called. He was armored up, helmet tucked under one arm. "We're running battle drills in the next hour. General Skywalker said it would be worthwhile for you to get some training in with us, too, sir."

Ahsoka flashed a hand in front of his face. "I don't need to train with you."

"Er... that's really between you and the general, Commander," Tup said, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. Ahsoka didn't even try to hide her frown as she waved her hand a second time, slower.

"I _don't_ need to train with you."

Tup glanced down the hallway behind him, but there were no other troopers she was talking to. "If you say so, sir," the clone acquiesced with the smallest wince, nodding. He continued on, leaving Ahsoka scratch a montral thoughtfully. Maybe there was more to it than just waving a hand and giving an order.

The _Resolute_ interrupted Ahsoka's thoughts as it rumbled under her feet in its familiar way of exiting hyperspace. It was far too soon to have reached Coruscant already, she knew.

The ship's intercom carried General Skywalker's voice throughout the ship. "All right, boys, we've got a quick change of plans. We're picking up the 104th Wolfpack and taking them back to Coruscant with us. In times like these, we need to remember that not everyone can be blessed with a sense of humor... or even a personality, so bear with them. We just need to make it four hours. We can do this, guys." Snickering from the bridge officers trailed after his speech as the intercom shut off. Ahsoka rubbed her little hands together at the news.

By the time the Togruta sighted the gray painted troopers, she was sitting with a group of clones back in the mess hall playing cards. Several Wolfpack soldiers entered to get in line for food, keeping closely to themselves and barely sparing a nod to any of the 501st.

"Cheery as always," Jesse muttered. Charger and Kix shared his distrustful gaze. The Wolfpack's taciturn behavior, bordering condescension, earned them the stereotype, fair or not, that they were the most overbearing squad in the GAR. No one in the 104th went out of their way to disprove this assumption.

After mulling the consideration over for a couple minutes, Ahsoka returned her hand of cards to Kix in favor of tracking down the Wolfpack's table. She found Sinker and Boost with a few other gray painted clones in a corner. Sinker's hair almost passed for regulation aside from the fact it was dyed such a bright blond color it looked white; Boost had two stripes of dyed red hair stretching across his head, and two long, thin scars decorating the right side of his face. The rest of the pack sitting at the opposite end of the table looked like standard, unoriginal clones.

Sinker smiled when the padawan sat next to him. "Little 'Soka, how y'been?" The original Wolfpack held a special regard for the Togruta ever since she had been the driving force to save them from the wreckage of the _Triumphant_. They went so far as to adopt their general's nickname of her.

"I've been good. And you? What were you guys up to before we picked you up?"

"That's... er... classified," Boost replied, his denial tempered by a good-natured smile that stretched his scars. "But I can tell you it's better than what the 501st's been up to lately."

"You mean, better than saving Kamino from the Separatists?" she shot back. The 501st's renowned victory on Kamino always swelled Ahsoka with pride when she bragged about it, even though she herself had not been involved. Her smug, heavy-lidded smile made Boost roll his eyes.

"That was weeks ago," Sinker scoffed with a dismissive wave of his hand. "He meant the supply run you just finished."

Ahsoka observed both troopers once they returned to eating their identical trays of food. She waved a hand slowly past the side of Sinker's face, concentrating on her desire to be obeyed, almost whispering, "You will tell me your mission."

"Hmm?" The light-haired clone glanced her way, still chewing, before evaluating her skeptically. "Did you just...?" His voice trailed off as he looked to his brother for confirmation. Boost wore a similarly incredulous expression.

"Was that an attempt at a Jedi mind trick?" Boost asked. Ahsoka's hands zipped under the table.

"Was what a Jedi mind trick?"

Sinker laughed. "Do it again, do it again!" He swiveled in her direction, giving the padawan his undivided attention. Even Boost leaned further over the table as if it helped him watch better.

Ahsoka shrank self-consciously in her seat but attempted a second time, reverting to the most basic fundamentals. Her hand flew by Sinker's face much faster as she mumbled, "You'll tell me your mission." Her eyes were pleading, her shoulders bunched. Boost's gaze darted from Ahsoka to his brother, gauging reactions, until Sinker finally looked his way.

"Anything?" the red-haired clone asked with no attempt at hiding his anticipation. Sinker shrugged.

"Nope."

Ahsoka slumped onto the table. "Why is this so hard? The masters make it look easy."

"Well, I figure you gotta be as decisive as possible," said Sinker, picking up his discarded fork. "Because if you're not resolved, how can you convince anyone else?" Despite Sinker being the opposite of an expert on Jedi teachings, Ahsoka would accept any advice at this point.

"Do me next!" Boost volunteered from across the table. Ahsoka puffed up with inspiration. Just as she reached out a hand to him, a low, filtered voice spoke up behind her.

"Sinker, Boost. Let's go." Ahsoka turned to see the familiar markings of Wolffe, his visor locked in on them. The clones immediately donned their helmets and rose to fall in behind their commander.

"Hey, Wolffe," the Togruta greeted cheerfully, only to be answered by his visor slipping from her view in what possibly could have been interpreted as a nod, but it happened too fast for Ahsoka to be sure. Wolffe briskly led his two soldiers from the mess.

"What'd she want?" their commander grunted after they entered the hallway.

Sinker chuckled. "Sir, you should be nicer to Little 'Soka. Remember what General Plo said about taking her as a padawan if General Skywalker didn't want her?"

"Then we'd _all_ be calling her 'commander,'" added Boost.

"Don't remind me!" Wolffe snapped.

Kix had just started gathering all the cards together in their packaging when Ahsoka returned to claim her old seat across from him. Charger and Jesse watched the Togruta hopefully, waiting to be informed of the conversation that took place at the Wolfpack's table. Despite her not being a clone, all the troopers expected her to abide by the hard and fast rules of the rumor mill, especially the rule that everyone had to contribute. Ahsoka barely spared the other two clones a glance, instead focusing on Kix. She waved a determined hand across his face, reaching out in the Force to try to form a connection with him.

"You want to play another round."

The medic paused briefly, half the cards put away, as a shiver crossed his shoulders. His gaze immediately darted up to Ahsoka, wearing a grin growing wider by the second.

"What was that?"

The padawan only asked innocently, "Did you feel something?"

Kix's eyes narrowed.

* * *

An hour or so later, Ahsoka lay prone on her bunk. A couple half-completed datapads on Jedi history cluttered her pillow as she languidly skimmed a holozine. She had long been fighting her drooping head until a sharp knock startled her from her stupor. The Togruta shoved the holozine under her pillow and slid the datapads closer in front of her before rolling onto her side to face the door, calling, "Come in!"

A familiar pair of Jaig eyes entered and Rex stopped one pace inside her cabin. The door almost didn't close behind him due to the proximity. His cross-armed posture brought her into a seated position, brow furrowed.

"Something wrong, Rex?"

"Heard you're trying to brainwash my men," he said tersely.

Ahsoka couldn't gauge his expression through his helmet and let one giggle slip, but his closed-off posture made her quickly rein in her reaction. She offered the captain her most sincere expression. "Not brainwash. Practice!" Her small smile waned as she wondered why Rex was taking this so seriously; the Wolfpack had been amused enough.

"I'd rather you didn't use my soldiers as test subjects." The stiffness in his tone made her feel more reprimanded than when Anakin was all-out yelling at her for some misstep.

"It's not like that at all!" the Togruta replied, eye markings lowering defensively. "I'm not even that good at it."

Rex shook his head and Ahsoka heard the sigh mangled by his vents. "Listen, kid, if you keep this up, the men might go so far as to avoid you because they won't know if the things they do around you are of their own accord or something you planted in their minds."

"Rex, I would never..." Her voice faltered as she grasped the accusation of his words.

"We're controlled enough as it is, littl'un. Let us have a little freedom."

The padawan would've felt less wounded being shot by his deeces. Two conflicting thoughts swirled and clashed inside her mind: that she was being falsely accused, and that she had singlehandedly failed her troops. Ahsoka never expected the soldiers to resent her practicing the Jedi mind trick, any more than they would've resented her practicing unarmed combat with them. "...I'll stop. I promise."

Rex gave a decisive nod that Ahsoka had learned meant the matter was settled. Him leaning an inch backwards made the door slide open, and the captain took a step out before turning back to say, "The General wants to see you on the bridge."

* * *

Judging by the lack of clones in the corridors as Ahsoka made her way back from the bridge, she could tell there was only about one or two hours left in hyperspace travel. In the end hours of the journey, most non-essential personnel would find they had run out of everything to do besides sleep. If there were one or two clones wandering about the ship, it was because they had been sleeping since the beginning and now needed something to do.

Ahsoka was one of the ones considering sleep a good option, after being reprimanded by Rex, then separately by her master for not participating in the squad battle drills like he instructed.

Her curiosity overcame her dejection, however, when two clones exited the mess hall somewhere further down the corridor, muttering about "Pompous _shabuir_," and "We shoulda left 'em back on that planet."

Ahsoka stuck her head into the mess to see a small group of 501st soldiers sitting together near the doors, seeing how precariously they could stack their trays and plates, and a single, gray-clad trooper at the furthest table away, facing the wall. The 501st's attempts for her attention, in reality just poorly hidden requests for praise, did not sidetrack her from approaching the Wolfpack commander and claiming a spot on the bench directly across from him. Commander Wolffe barely even glanced up at her before hunching a little closer over his tray and lowering his head a degree. It looked like he was protecting his meal from theft.

Ahsoka, however, was preoccupied with his prominent battle wound, the large scar running across his prosthetic right eye. She had heard about Wolffe's injury what felt like ages ago, but never had a chance to see it until now.

"Did you just come to stare?" She almost started from the sudden interruption to her concentration.

The padawan guiltily swung her gaze from his impressive scar to his eyes, then only to his organic eye. She sat stiffly like a child just caught being up to no good.

"Is there something you need?" he asked in a tone more demanding than inquiring. Her unwavering stare, which was proven in the past to unnerve Rex and Commander Cody, did not leave Wolffe's good eye.

"You look like you needed company," Ahsoka said finally. Her friendly air contrasted with her stiff gaze.

"I'd rather eat alone."

"Don't worry, you _are_ the only one eating. _I'm_ sitting here."

"Great. A comedian. Just like Sinker." Wolffe regained a more natural posture; apparently the threat to his food had passed. He went on eating as if he was the only one at the table, but after about half a minute, he warily eyed the padawan. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I'm going to snap at you for looking at my scar." He watched his food more than the Togruta across from him; quite possibly her gaze was unnerving even him.

"You're... you're not?" Without even waiting for an answer, Ahsoka chanced a peek at his prosthetic before zipping back to his good eye.

"No," he said, then muttered, "everyone treating me like I'm all sensitive about it."

The stiffness left her in a relieved sigh. "You're not?"

"_No_. It's kriffin' majestic."

Ahsoka's laugh was stifled into a snort. She sat a little more at ease since the bantha in the room had been addressed. "It's only worth it if you can see through walls now."

"That's..." Wolffe paused to look Ahsoka over carefully. "That's almost exactly what General Plo said after I got this." A wide smile broke across Ahsoka's face.

"Aw, Master Plo. Always looking out for you. Well, no pun intended." She laughed at her own joke.

Wolffe gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes.

"And I'm so glad you got a new eye just so you could still do that, Wolfey."

"Don't call me that."

"Wolfster?"

"No."

"Wolfen—"

"And this is why I eat alone." A beep from Wolffe's comlink interrupted Ahsoka's next pet name. The clone breathed reverent thanks before answering, "Commander Wolffe here."

"_Sir, we're getting a message from the General here on the bridge."_

"Master Plo's calling? I want to come!" the Togruta chirped. A laugh came from Wolffe's wrist.

"_Is that Little 'Soka? Is she trying to mind trick you too, sir?"_

Ahsoka's head slowly sunk between her shoulders as her eyes dropped to the table for once.

"I'm on my way, Boost," the commander said before ending the transmission, staring straight at the padawan. A significant silence passed between them. The Togruta attempted to look back up at Wolffe, but his stare caused her to wince and return to her table-watching. Somehow, his brown eye was fiercer than the prosthetic one.

"You tried to brainwash my soldiers?"

"Oh, not you, too," she huffed. What she considered to be a false accusation gave her enough courage to look him in the eyes. "I was just practicing a mind trick. It didn't work! They volunteered... the second time."

Wolffe grabbed his helmet and shoved it down over his head. "You're lucky the general has such a soft spot for you, 'Soka," he muttered, standing. "I don't want to hear about you mind tricking my soldiers again."

Sinker bustled into the mess then and stopped just behind Wolffe's shoulder. "Sir, Boost was trying to get in touch with you about—"

"Yeah, tracking." Without a single farewell pleasantry, Wolffe spun and headed for the door, leaving the food tray for someone else to pick up.

Sinker stayed on his heels, asking, "Everything good, sir?"

"Little ankle-biter woulda never made it in the 'pack," Wolffe muttered.

* * *

Ahsoka stood on the bridge with her master by the time the _Resolute_ slid out of hyperspace to the welcoming glimmer of Coruscant. Commander Wolffe, Admiral Yularen and Captain Rex were somewhere behind; Boost and Sinker hovered over the communications console, working on mandatory messages.

Wolffe called for his men to follow once they were done, then left the bridge to make preparations to debark. The Wolfpack's next move, however, was to invite Ahsoka over to them. They met her uncertain gaze with encouraging smiles.

"Don't let the commander's gruff behavior put you off," Sinker almost whispered, eying the gray-clad 501st intel officers shooting suspicious glances their way. "It wouldn't be a fun trip without you, Little 'Soka."

"Yeah," intoned Boost. "We weren't thrilled when we first heard the 501st was picking us up." At Ahsoka's half-dubious smile, he added, "Well, no offense, but the 501st seems pretty... stuffy. Like the one thing they didn't get from their growth jars was a sense of humor."

"Or personalities," added Sinker. All Ahsoka could do was laugh.

* * *

**A.N. Last week turned into a bye week, but it gave me time to write. So I'm going to try to bump this story up to two a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Let's do this!**


	9. Necklace

Necklace

* * *

Three soldiers stood tall facing a large formation on the moon of S'rerl. For the better part of the last week, the 501st had been fighting Separatist droids in the humid jungle environment native only to inexcusably large insects. The enemy attempted to build an outpost on this moon due to its proximity to the most direct hyperspace lanes leading to the Outer Rim. The Separatists had been halfway complete by the time Republic forces spotted their construction, and nearly finished when the 501st landed to intervene.

For such an extended battle in such a primitive setting, the number of trooper casualties was surprisingly few. And for an almost routine battle, there had been a surprising amount of heroics. Hardcase had singlehandedly taken out three armored assault tanks, not because he had found himself alone amongst the enemy, but because he had recklessly outrun his brothers in his eagerness to confront "brainbolted clankers." Charger and Appo had taken on a grossly disproportional amount of enemies in order to draw their excessive fire away from wounded brothers. If not for their actions, the casualty count would have been much worse.

Now, as the troops waited for the fleet to return from routing all enemy forces from the system, those not busy guarding the captured outpost's walls were formed up within it for a quick medal ceremony. Hardcase, Charger and Appo stood at attention, helmets under one arm, weapons leaning ceremonially against the other. Rex walked down the line adhering a polished medal to each trooper's breastplate: a thin, gold diamond overlaying a bronze medallion hanging from a red-and-silver striped ribbon. Despite the rigidity of the ceremony, he managed a subtle, proud tug at the corner of his mouth to each clone as he pinned them.

"On behalf of the Grand Army of the Republic, I award you with the Distinguished Valor Medal," the captain announced in the formal custom he had mastered over the years. "For displaying bravery and exceptional fortitude in the face of overwhelming personal odds." A cheer erupted from the formation. Upon the order of fall out, there was a massive swarm to congratulate the awardees. Anakin and Ahsoka found Rex off to the side of the madness, reattaching his helmet.

"I don't know how you can stand this humidity, sir," the captain intoned. "I'll be living in here til they come and get us, though." The two Jedi were already covered in a nice, unenviable sheen. Only Ahsoka looked a little worse for the wear, body slumping under the weight of the mugginess.

"That's right," Rex recalled, "you came from Tatooine. You must be used to this."

Anakin's eyes slid towards Rex as quickly as the temperature allowed. "Dry heat," he corrected unenthusiastically. "This just sucks."

"You can say that again, Master," muttered Ahsoka, dragging a bracer across her forehead. Rex noticed Anakin checking the cloudy sky again, most likely for any signs of the fleet. Since their landing a week ago there had been constant, yellow cloud cover, an unpleasant hue fitting for an unpleasant moon. The only change in the sky had been when the clouds thinned enough to observe the gaseous planet it orbited through the night vision filter on Rex's rangefinder scope; even thin clouds were opaque to the naked eye.

Anakin mumbled something about contacting Admiral Yularen before shuffling off to the small Separatist-constructed fortress where the communications technology had been the first thing salvaged. Ahsoka stayed behind, fanning herself with both hands.

She drew her captain's attention after a particularly discouraged sigh, asking, "Hey, Rex. I'm a good fighter, right? Brave?" Her gaze was firmly locked on the three troopers still being congratulated by the battalion.

"What do you think, sir? I'd have been shot in the head twice on this moon alone if it weren't for you."

"Then why can't I get a medal?"

A chuckle slipped from Rex before he even thought to stifle it. "You're not a soldier." It made perfect sense. After all, it was in the regs: GAR medals were for GAR personnel. This answer did not suffice to alleviate his commander's disparagement based on the size of her pout. Fives and Echo joining them at the edge of the battalion seemed to distract her enough, though. The two ARC troopers had recently returned from their specialized training and now appeared to saunter everywhere they went, showing off their Phase II armor, kamas swinging.

"What's with the face, sir?" Fives asked the Togruta. He switched between watching his commander and watching the battalion's progression of congratulations.

"I'm never going to get a medal," she sighed. Fives laughed.

"I've got like four of 'em. Want one?"

Ahsoka perked up just in time for Echo and Rex to simultaneously intone, "No, she can't." The pout returned.

"Stuff it!" Fives shot back, hopefully at Echo rather than his captain. "If she wants a medal, I'll get her a medal."

"GAR 670-1 outlines who can be recipients of service medals," Echo informed him. "I'll bring up the exact chapter for you." And he went on a silent regulation hunt inside his helmet. Fives gave a roll of his head; Rex knew him well enough to assume that his eyes rolled more.

"It's not that big a deal," argued Fives. "It's not like I need all these medals and ribbons that I can't actually wear." He gave his chestplate a loving tap. "They don't help me shoot clankers any better. What's the use—" One solid shove from Rex that nearly landed Fives on his backside shut him up.

Rex switched to in-helmet communication, leaving Ahsoka to watch wide-eyed as the captain gestured fiercely to the new ARC trooper without hearing a sound.

"I don't ever, _ever_ want to hear you mouthing off like that again, in front of our commander or anyone else! Awards are the one thing we own. We don't own the weapons that save our lives. We don't even own the armor we die in, but medals are the _one_ thing the GAR doesn't reclaim. I don't care if they have no value for you— frellin' keep it to yourself! Look at all the rookies out here. They see medals as a badge of honor; something to aspire to. Do _not_ take that away from them!"

Fives nodded. Each bob of his head lowered his visor by degrees until it faced the ground, and he replied in their private link, "Yes, sir. I apologize."

"Go congratulate the men if you haven't already," Rex ordered over his public channel. Echo followed his brother, informing him of the chapter and paragraph detailing proper medal recipients. Rex couldn't decide if it was for better or worse that, despite their advanced training, those two were the same as ever.

Ahsoka still looked wary when Rex finally turned back to face her.

"Sir?"

"Never mind. I don't need a medal," she replied quickly. The Togruta shuffled off toward the small outpost command building, mumbling, "Nope, nope..."

Rex had his hands full the rest of the day. The dense cloud cover severely restricted the range of the captured subspace radio, to the complete confusion of the 501st's commo technicians. Although not being able to contact the fleet was worrisome, Rex was more bothered by the fact that there was no one else in the GAR tracking the condition of the battalion.

Anakin wallowed in an irritated mood the rest of the day, but Rex proactively formed a guard roster for the night, instructed soldiers to establish a makeshift shelter for the field medbay, and investigated the perimeter wall himself for any weaknesses. To their credit, the Separatists had cleared away the tall, drooping jungle trees within about one hundred meters of the wall, which limited the wealth of cover for any new enemies should another attack happen.

Rex ended his tour at the medbay tucked away in a corner of the tall perimeter walls by the time the sun was nearly set. Now, instead of bile-yellow clouds, they had deepened into a dark amber color; hardly an improvement. Soldiers still labored to erect camouflage canopies which shielded anyone underneath from prying airborne eyes more than anything else. They had no other materials to work with. Under the main canopy, Kix and Coric bustled about assisting the many wounded soldiers, some lying in neat rows along the ground, others propped up against the walls. Among the soldiers, surprisingly, was Ahsoka. She patiently stood by the medics' backpacks and field equipment until Coric finally approached her, offering a small vial.

"This is all I can spare, sir. We've just got too few supplies for all these men," he said in a low voice.

Rex snatched the vial out of the medic's hand before Ahsoka even reached for it. "What's this?" The container was too small for any labels.

"Painkillers, sir," Coric responded. Rex handed it back to him and waved him off before leading Ahsoka out from the makeshift medbay by her arm.

"Remember that talk we had a few planets back where I said you should start wearing your own medkit?" Rex asked. He only released her when they were equidistant from all other clones.

"Rex, I'm not actually injured. I just... hurt all over," sighed the Togruta. She wore the most dejected expression he had ever seen, on top of the humid sheen glistening across her skin. The padawan winced as she reached up to slide a hand from one montral down to her lek. "They've never hurt this bad before."

When Rex just gave an exaggerated, uncomprehending shrug, Ahsoka whined, "Growing pains! It feels like I've got these mountains of montrals just pushing through my skull and it hurts so bad!"

Rex dug into one of the pouches on his belt until he extracted a polymer vial, holding it out of her reach. "This isn't as strong as what the medics have, but they need the powerful stuff more."

"I don't think you understand the severity of the situation," Ahsoka moaned. She was quite possibly on the verge of tears.

"Kid, you've never experienced rapid growth acceleration. This'll get you through." He handed her the medicine and she trudged off into the deepening shadows. Sometimes it surprised Rex that outside the confines of battle, where Ahsoka was a sharp-thinking beast, she reverted to what he kept forgetting she was: a teenager. But although Rex's experiences growing up were polar opposites from normal upbringings in most other species, he had it on good authority that most teenagers in the galaxy were not as selfless, or as resolute, or as fierce as his little commander.

Rex entered the main control room of the outpost where the commo technicians were still scrambling for answers. Anakin leaned against one wall, watching the workers hawkishly while staying well out of their way. His impatient glare confirmed all Rex needed to know.

Appo approached from behind to slide into view, reporting, "Sir, we're amber on ammo, red on water. They're trying to get the rest of the AT-RTs fixed, but we're still stuck on only two functioning."

The captain vented a note of pure frustration. He flicked his eyes about inside his helmet, bringing up the LACE report on his HUD screen for further amendments. Rex had yet to send up any of these reports, original or otherwise, for accountability.

"Keep me posted, Appo." The captain leaned forward and knocked a gauntlet on the communications console, under which the commo techs had crawled only to be swimming in wires. He was met with irritated glares from men beyond the point of exasperation. "Let me know when you get through to the fleet."

"Don't hold your breath, sir."

About the only thing working smoothly was the guard schedule. All the soldiers knew their location to guard and time to be there. There was one guard at each corner atop the wall, two guards in the working AT-RTs manning the single entry control point, two guarding opposite ends of the med tent, and one guard per sleeping section. The outpost building was too small for anything but working space, relegating all soldiers to sleep under the clouds.

Rex himself had a two-hour shift just after midnight atop an AT-RT at the ECP. His comrade, Fuse, was not much of a talker, and the time passed far too slowly. By the time the next shift relieved him, he was so focused on collapsing on his own bedroll as he headed back to the sleeping section that he almost missed a suspicious mass in the shadowy foot of one of the walls. He flicked his rangefinder down, activated night vision and zoomed in. Togrutan montrals were as easy to identify as the clone number that popped up on his HUD screen once the technology recognized his brother next to her. The two in question seemed to sit leaning against the wall just as much as each other.

Establishing an in-helmet channel with the clone was even easier. When Rex's screen flashed green for a secure transmission, he shouted, "HARDCASE!" and watched the clone against the wall nearly jump two feet in the air, spooking their commander.

"GET YOUR SHEBS THE FEK OVER HERE BEFORE I DRAG YOU OVER BY YOUR BALLS!"

Hardcase came sprinting closer to stand at terrified attention in front of his captain. His rapid breathing did not help him enunciate. "Y-yessir?" It also didn't help that Rex slipped a hand underneath Hardcase's breastplate to yank the trooper so close their helmets cracked into one another.

"You have three seconds to tell me what the _flying kriff_ you were doing alone with our _frelling_ commander! And even then I may have you detained for that _breach of karkin' protocol_!"

Hardcase made no move to resist as his armor was shaken and his head jostled at his captain's whim. "S-sir, it wasn't anything, I swear. We were just sittin' there, and it's..." His voice calmed down considerably before he added, "It's honestly not what you think, sir."

Ahsoka shuffled over, squinting in the dark until she found the two soldiers and set her hands on Rex's arm.

"Is something the matter, Rex?"

He switched to the public channel. "You don't even have a shift tonight, Commander." His tone was borderline accusatory. "What are you doing up at this hour?"

"The meds wore off and I can't sleep."

"Well, try. Because this _shabuir_ is coming with me. Sir." Rex stalked off, towing Hardcase by his armor.

"Really, captain," the clone protested, still transmitting over their private channel, "it's probably the exact opposite of what you're thinking." Rex did not stop until he reached the far wall, well away from all the rows of sleeping troopers. He swung Hardcase around in front of him and forced his back against the wall where he kept him pinned.

"Are you a Jedi now, Hardcase, that you can tell me what I'm thinking? What the kriff were you doing with our commander at this hour?!"

"Sir, it's going to sound... stupid..."

"Try me," Rex ordered in a feral snarl.

Hardcase took a composing breath. "None of us had a normal, human upbringing on Kamino. General Ti was... demanding, but kind. And in those rare moments when she just talked to us, as people, not as purchased fighters, I wondered if maybe... maybe that's what it feels like to have a mother. So, sometimes... talking to the commander the same way, it feels like..."

The captain released him, simultaneously taking a step back. Rex would've loved nothing more than to pinch the bridge of his nose or run a hand down his face, but he had to suffice with feeling the pressure of his hand weighing down on the crown of his helmet.

"Karkin' really, Hardcase?" he vented, his hands finding his belt. "You were cozying up to Commander Tano because you want a mother?" Rex didn't sound angry or even incredulous; the relief swelling in his chest didn't allow him to sound anything other than confused.

"Told you it'd sound stupid, sir," the clone replied with slanting shoulders. His head bowed to match. "She was already up; said she couldn't sleep. I was coming off my guard shift so I sat with her. We were just talkin', sir."

"Hardcase, I'm assigning you to ARC trooper Echo as of 0700 tomorrow. He's gonna go over every single regulation his HUD can come up with. Now get some sleep."

The next morning, the general mood was noticeably improved due to the first decent night's sleep in a week. General Skywalker and Ahsoka drilled with lightsabers, a sure way to keep all soldiers far away from them. It was early enough that their temperaments weren't plagued by the humidity just yet. As Rex passed them on his way to the command building, he overheard his general suggest that Ahsoka pick up a second lightsaber in order to refine her sloppy fighting form.

Even the commo techs were in slightly better moods. Every now and again they thought they had established a channel with the fleet, only for it to fade out of their grasp. At least now they weren't glaring at their captain as they worked.

Rex, exiting the building, found Hardcase and Echo leaning against the nearest perimeter wall. Kix, Jesse and Charger flanked them, and all five appeared to be in one giant... argument. The captain approached the group, ready to slam somebody else up against the wall if need be.

"I get it," Hardcase was saying, "she can't get an entire medal. But what if we took just a _piece_ of a medal and gave it to her?"

"Damage of GAR property," Echo responded with a quick shake of his head. "It's in the galactic code of military justice that willful damage—"

"Don't bring the GCMJ into this!" snapped Hardcase, nearly lost among Charger, Kix and Jesse throwing their opinions into the mix. All five quickly quieted once a pair of Jaig eyes appeared in their group.

"Sir," Echo greeted with a quick salute. Rex returned the gesture, not quite as crisply.

"This wouldn't happen to be the same argument that Fives started yesterday, would it?" The captain's visor shot from one clone to the next, finally settling on a nodding Echo. Rex, in a tone to resolve this debate once and for all, said, "Our commander _cannot_ and _will not_ be awarded a GAR medal."

Hardcase indecisively raised one hand, like he was back in the cadet classrooms on Kamino. Rex pointed to him in acknowledgment like one of the teachers back on Kamino. The clone withdrew something small and shiny from a belt pouch. "Even if we already made her something?"

Charger, Kix, and Jesse looked from their brother to their captain, for once silent. One commanding word was all it took for Hardcase to drop the object into Rex's hand. It was a long, gold diamond hanging from a gold chain. Where he got the chain, Rex couldn't imagine, but the diamond...

"Hardcase, is this from the medal you got yesterday?"

"Er... I plead not guilty, sir." Rex handed it back.

"Fine. If you want to give it to her..." Before the captain could even finish his sentence, the four clones hustled over to where their Jedi leadership had just taken a break, lightsabers stowed. Echo approached Rex's side, arms crossed.

"This is against the regs," he said simply. From their spot by the wall, they could see Ahsoka's face light up when presented with the necklace before she gave a big hug to each trooper. Rex clenched his hands tightly around his belt.

"Who's gonna know?" he replied, a stiff shrug barely moving his pauldron. His own inner thoughts about missed opportunities were interrupted by Fives running from the command building.

"Captain! We got word from the fleet! They'll be in orbit within the hour!"

Business mode activated in Rex's mind, running through all the lists of things to accomplish before extraction. He barked out orders and the outpost because abuzz with troops eager to pack up. In the midst of this organized chaos, Rex spared a glance in Ahsoka's direction. She proudly showed off her new necklace, already around her neck, to her master, who regarded it with an appropriate amount of interest.

"And get those canopies folded! To standard! The fleet's not leaving in the next two seconds... fer cryin' out loud." A small tug on Rex's arm drew his attention to the Togruta now at his side. She grinned up at him with one hand on her necklace.

"I know you had something to do with this," she said, that comically suspicious squint to her eyes. Inadvertently, she was right. Rex didn't punish the ones who actually made the necklace, therefore he had something to do with it.

The delighted smile that broke across her face knocked the wind out of his lungs far more effectively than that commando droid sniper on Saleucami. Just as he took a moment to recover, Ahsoka bounced up and threw her arms around his neck. Thankfully, Rex's arms instinctively closed in on her back because his mind was blank. Ahsoka hopped down a moment later, then spirited away to go be helpful somewhere.

It took longer than Rex would've liked to admit until he reclaimed full control of his faculties. He made up for his lapse with extra-aggressive snapping at his soldiers.

"_Captain..."_ a soldier's voice came across his helmet comlink. A glance to the corner of his HUD screen showed him it was Echo's transmission. Looking around, Rex noticed the ARC trooper halfway across the outpost, Ahsoka tugging at his kama. _"__Commander Tano__ wants a kama now."_

Rex couldn't help cracking a grin. "That's a negative. Sic the regs on her, Echo."

* * *

**A.N. I need help; my google-fu skills are not yet up to par. What's the Star Wars universe equivalent of "basket case"? (As in, a person who acts like a basket case.) Please and thank you!**


	10. Nobody likes Tarkin

Nobody likes Tarkin

* * *

Ahsoka paced slowly behind her master, standing stoic as ever, outside the door to the Supreme Chancellor's office in the Senate Office Building. The door was flanked by blue, similarly stoic Senate Guards, behind a desk manned by the Supreme Chancellor's Rodian receptionist. The waiting room curved to envelope those inside with rich red tones; the walls were lined with snugly curving red benches occasionally partitioned by white tables. Opposite the doors to the Chancellor's office, the room gave way to tall, open hallways lined with striking columns. The white hallways were arguably more impressive than the ostentatious waiting room.

Captain Tarkin sat primly on one of the plush, red benches on the other side of the waiting room, apparently oblivious to anyone else. Ahsoka took advantage of his unobservant air to shoot unkind faces his way whenever she needed to feel better. Her little challenges flew right under the noses of the receptionist, too busy idling on the HoloNet to notice, and the Senate Guards, staring dull-eyed toward the hallways. Obi-Wan Kenobi stood talking in hushed tones with Commander Cody somewhere behind, closer to the hallways.

Everyone had touched down on Coruscant not even a half hour ago, finally free of the most infamous Separatist prison, the Citadel, thanks to the rescue efforts of Masters Plo Koon and Saesee Tiin. Anakin and Obi-Wan's venture had initially been a rescue mission of Jedi Master Piell, who held the significant information about the Nexus Route, a hyperspace lane that could allow the Republic to fly to the heart of the Separatist homeworlds. The rescue party soon realized Master Piell split the information with Captain Tarkin of all people under his command.

Ahsoka now carried the fallen Master Piell's half of the information, pacing, glaring, biting her thumb. They were all waiting for an audience with the Supreme Chancellor because Captain Tarkin would not disclose his information to anyone else; Ahsoka had been instructed to only inform the Jedi Council. So here they loitered while Grand Master Yoda conferred with the Supreme Chancellor behind closed doors.

Ahsoka would've rather been taking a shower, but Tarkin raised a fuss that if any Jedi returned to the Jedi Temple, they _must_ be going there to inform the Council about certain secrets. And so he effectively herded them to the Senate Office Building. The paranoid twit.

"Snips," her master whispered, his back still towards her, "have a little patience."

The Togruta opened her mouth to respond and immediately felt harsh eyes on her. Again. Anakin could talk to her as much as he wanted with no reaction from the pallid Captain across the room; Kenobi and Cody had been jawing since they arrived with no reaction from the Captain. A dewback could've putzed through the waiting room on a speeder bike shedding essential parts without so much as a glance from Tarkin. But let Ahsoka try to talk to anyone else in the room and she instantly received the brunt of his attention.

Feeling his eyes slide across her made her need for a shower all the more urgent. She shuddered before circling her master, using Anakin as a human shield against the eavesdropping captain.

"Master, isn't it a little strange that Master Piell wanted the Jedi Council to be informed first, but yet here we are at the Supreme Chancellor's office?" Her voice was even more hushed than Anakin's, but a nagging paranoia told her that Tarkin heard her much better than he had Skywalker.

"Master Yoda's in there discussing everything," Anakin replied calmly. "And even if the Council isn't to know, doesn't it make more sense that the Senate and therefore the Army has this information instead of the Jedi? What are we going to do with it, send the Council to the Separatist homeworlds?" Ahsoka's shoulders slumped as her master continued. "No, if the Supreme Chancellor is the only one to hear this information, he'll share it where it's most needed." Anakin finally looked down at the forlorn Togruta, offering his first smile since returning planetside. "Have faith, young one."

Ahsoka wore a noncommittal expression as she returned to pacing. She chanced a peek back at Tarkin only to unexpectedly lock eyes with him. The Togruta paused in order to focus all her effort into staring the captain down, her eye markings slowly angling over her eyes blazing with outright challenge.

Tarkin stared back, composed as always, his mouth ever so subtly bent in that haughty manner he had refined into an art form.

Ahsoka was determined to not look away first. Despite the fact that she was the one to save Tarkin, he never once stopped strutting around like he was superior to everyone he interacted with. She wanted his uncomfortably pale face to quit first, or twitch, or show any kind of telltale sign that he was actually human. The Togruta started slightly when the dark color of her master's robes effectively blocked her nemesis from view. She glanced up; he was staring straight down at her, his previous smile nowhere to be found.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Ahsoka curled her fingers around her lightsabers. Clutching her weapons in both hands always evoked a sense of comfort in her. They gave her a feeling of invulnerability and confidence when she was otherwise feeling small. They gave her the pluck to look at her master with almost the same level of challenge she had sent Tarkin's way.

"Get some air. I'll call if we're summoned."

There was no room for argument. Hands firmly clenching her hooked lightsabers, Ahsoka sauntered around her master, eyes fixed on the entryway blocked by Kenobi and Cody. There was that cringe-worthy, beady-eyed stare from Captain Pale in the corner. Somebody get that man a holozine.

Slipping past Master Kenobi and his second in command was no trouble; they parted to let her through. On the other side she found herself in the middle of four sprawling hallways radiating from the waiting room entrance like a starburst. There was much more light out here as all the high ceilings were transparisteel windows. Ahsoka ambled down the hallway leading towards the turbo-lift, staring up at the cloudy sky more than anything else.

In the open air silence of this new room, Ahsoka's hand soon trailed to the comlink on her wrist, wondering briefly what Rex was up to at that moment. She thought back to the end of their mission when Master Plo's gunship carried all the survivors to the waiting Venator-class ship. Everyone had exited the gunship a little slowly; for Ahsoka's part it was because she was slipping from her adrenaline rush into the familiar, encompassing arms of fatigue. She recalled when Fives exited, he tottered as far as the hangar bay wall before falling forward against it. Rex was the first one at his side and knelt next to him for the longest time, an arm around his shoulders, comforting words lost to all but their memories.

Ahsoka stopped several meters down the hallway to lean against a column, reflecting on her responsibility to her soldiers. Maybe Fives should be the first one she contacted; Ahsoka hadn't seen him since they landed on Coruscant. It was possible that after losing Echo, he just wanted space. But then again, as the only remaining member of his squad, maybe the last thing Fives should be was alone.

Ahsoka traced her finger around the comlink indecisively. She glanced up when the lift doors at the far end of the hallway opened, and immediately broke out in a wide smile when she saw Rex walk in. He carried his helmet under an arm, his armor a dingy gray in comparison to the pristine corridor.

Before she even noticed it, the Togruta's mind wandered to how pleasantly tan her captain looked in this environment. An immediate, involuntary reaction flared in her chest that quickly settled into a soft glow. The less she regarded him with her logical mind, the stronger the glow became. A couple blinks tripped her brain into gear again and extinguished that unexpected feeling.

Rex headed for the waiting room at a good clip, nodding once to Ahsoka. "Is the general in there?" he asked, coupled with an off-handed gesture toward the red room as he passed his commander, her smile faltering.

"Along with Tarkin."

Rex turned around so promptly it looked like he had been given the rear march order. He found space to lean on the same column next to his superior, deciding, "I'm in no hurry." He distractedly thrummed his fingers against his helmet.

"Not a fan of Master Piell's illustrious captain, either?" asked the Togruta, her grin tainted with a conspiratorial twist. She crossed her arms over her chest and watched with no small level of satisfaction how carefully Rex thought about wording his answer.

"I... am just fine with the fact that after this," he indicated the extravagant Chancellor's suite with a roll of his hand, "we won't have to see him again."

Ahsoka's wide grin was back in place. "And what do the other troopers from our mission think?"

"Fives _hates_ him," Rex intoned.

Ahsoka knew she shouldn't feel good about so much dislike of Tarkin, but her soldiers' negative judgment felt like validation for her own. However, she couldn't bask in the glory of vindication for as long as she would have liked.

"How's Fives doing, by the way?" the Togruta asked, her voice casual but her eyes full of anxious anticipation. She watched Rex shrug, his attention falling to the polished floor.

"He says he wants to be alone, but I don't think that's what he needs. He—"

The back of Ahsoka's neck bristled as she felt a poisonous shadow descend on their personal moment before she saw Tarkin appear a distance down the hallway, sweeping his suspicious gaze across all the corridors until resting on her. It was fortunate her hands immediately grabbed her arms, else they would've flown to her lightsabers in what could've been construed as a very threatening reaction.

"Ah, Padawan Tano," he called with no hint of surprise at finding her there, "we expect to be admitted momentarily."

"To an insane asylum?" she muttered through gritted teeth, barely even audible to Rex. The captain shoved his helmet over his head and shook with what she could only imagine to be laughter. When both made no move to leave their supporting column, Tarkin took a couple steps closer, hands properly behind his back.

"I needn't remind you of how sensitive this information is, Padawan Tano..."

The Togruta held up a staying hand before enunciating, "Commander. _Commander _Tano." She shouldered herself upright. It was her intent to walk past Tarkin back into the waiting room without so much as a glance in his direction, but just as she came in line with him, he held out his own hand to halt her.

"I apologize, Commander," he said in a tone far from it. "I was merely calling you by your first and foremost title. Unless you identify yourself as a soldier before a Jedi?" Her scowl was nowhere near fierce enough to wipe the patronizing smirk from his face. Ahsoka pointedly walked around his hand and reentered the waiting room.

Rex sauntered over to Tarkin, kama swaying. "You know, one captain to another, I would refrain from offering my opinion to a superior officer unless asked for it, first." His words stalled the man, making him turn back to face Rex. "Unless... they didn't include protocol at your military academy?" Rex's visor slowly slid from the tight-lipped captain before he followed his commander into the waiting room, still in that leisurely swagger.

Anakin was the only one still in his original spot; Obi-Wan stood next to him, hand on his beard, conferring, while Commander Cody sat on the red bench closest to the entryway. Ahsoka took a seat at his left hand; moments later Rex sat on his other side. Their visors met, heads subtly bobbed, but no sound was heard. Ahsoka, increasingly jealous of their in-helmet privacy, slouched in her seat before checking the chrono on her wrist. She calculated that she could've easily taken a shower and arrived in the waiting room by now. So when Tarkin entered, she returned the courtesy of his earlier glare on her back when she had first left. The captain calmly resumed his seat on the far opposite bench closest to the Senate Guards.

Rex leaned around the Cody, whispering, "Hey, kid. The commander's with you about..." A subtle head jerk toward the pallid captain. Even without Rex finishing his sentence, a smug grin pulled at Ahsoka's mouth. Suck it, Tarkin.

The doors to the Supreme Chancellor's office opened then and Mas Amedda, the Chagrian Vice Chancellor, bade the Jedi and Captain Tarkin welcome. The two clones merely nodded farewell to Ahsoka and sat contently on the plush bench.

Rex bounced once in his seat. "We need these in all our ships."

"Once you have a salary on par with the Supreme Chancellor's..." chuckled Cody.

"What salary?"

* * *

To Ahsoka's displeasure, the Supreme Chancellor and Master Yoda had agreed that the information should be shared here, in the presence of a recorder droid, who would assimilate Tarkin and Ahsoka's messages to be disseminated by the Supreme Chancellor himself. Maybe it was Ahsoka's own disappointment of Tarkin's victory that colored her view of the calm-faced Yoda, imagining he was just as disappointed as her. With a wave of his hand, Chancellor Palpatine dismissed Anakin and Obi-Wan to the waiting room.

* * *

Ahsoka and Captain Tarkin emerged nearly shoulder-to-shoulder from the office, determinedly ignoring one another. The Jedi Masters stood waiting with their corresponding clones; the Senate Guards and receptionist still acted as if no one else was there.

Ahsoka confidently pulled away from her nemesis, but when she reached her master, it was Captain Tarkin his attention was focused on.

"Captain," Anakin announced, hand held out expectantly. "It was a pleasure to meet you. If you're not busy, I invite you to come eat with us. I'd be interested in discussing recent campaigns with you."

Tarkin shook his proffered hand. "You honor me, Master Jedi." A spike of contempt tugged at Ahsoka's upper lip. He was probably repeating something he heard in a holovid once.

"However, I wouldn't dream of imposing. I know how busy the Jedi Council keeps their warriors anymore." His eyes flashed to each Jedi in the room, an accusatory lilt to his voice, in Ahsoka's opinion.

"Not at all," replied Anakin, all civility. "Our schedules are free the rest of the evening. I think conversation with you would be thoroughly engaging."

Since Anakin would clearly miss her message, Ahsoka angled towards Rex to share a disgusted roll of her eyes. He responded with the slightest nod.

Anakin turned to Obi-Wan, finally including the older Jedi in the conversation. Realizing he had been granted the privilege of adding his opinion, Obi-Wan gave a start, as if a forgotten memory suddenly sprang to mind. His hand left his beard to tap Cody's arm. "I must apologize, Anakin. I know I promised to dine with you tonight, but Cody and I have that mission brief... with Master Gallia. Remember?" Cody nodded on cue.

"Right, General. The mission to... Beqya Prime."

"Beqya?" Anakin repeated, an uncomprehending expression sliding over his face. "I didn't hear about this mission..." Obi-Wan's unbothered shrug didn't help matters.

"Just popped up when we returned, sir," Cody said with a reassuring nod.

"No rest for the weary," added Obi-Wan, his hand returning to his beard. "Sorry to disappoint, but we'll have future opportunities for civilized discussion." His gaze never once wandered to Tarkin.

Anakin's focus shifted to his padawan; both Ahsoka and Tarkin tensed. "Snips?"

"More talk of war is_ always_ exciting, but I've got all that training to catch up on, Master. ...So. Much. Training." Her smile was as fake as Captain Tarkin's disappointed expression. Finally, Anakin swung around to face Rex.

"And he's helping me!" Ahsoka exclaimed, linking arms with the clone captain. Rex nodded once.

"You're all missing out," Anakin said with a shake of his head. He and Captain Tarkin strode out into the bright hallways, already exchanging wartime experiences.

The remaining four breathed a sigh of relief as the atmosphere considerably lightened. Obi-Wan patted his commander's armored shoulder.

"My thanks, Cody. I owe you one."

"That you do, General."

"Now, we just need to find a place to lay low until our 'meeting' is over." The two nodded a friendly farewell to their fellow liars before heading out; Commander Cody only allowed Obi-Wan to exit the waiting room after giving the hallways a cautious sweep.

Ahsoka dissolved into devious snickering, thankfully still ignored by the guards and receptionist. One glance at her quiet captain informed her that his attention was fully focused on their still-linked arms.

"Am I escorting you to your training like this?" he asked dryly. Ahsoka slid her arm out from his somewhat hesitantly. His expression was hidden behind his helmet, but hers was borderline disappointed. They ambled out of the waiting room to head down the long hallway leading to the turbo-lift.

"I'm not training tonight. I want a shower." She didn't hear Rex's sudden cough because she was too preoccupied with suggesting, "But you can escort me to your barracks!"

Rex stumbled a pace. "Y-you're showering at the barracks?"

"No!" retorted the Togruta, white eye markings flat. "I want to visit Fives."

* * *

The warning, "Female on the floor!" didn't even draw curious glances anymore from the clones; the only female to ever visit their barracks was Ahsoka. The frequency of her visits exhausted their novelty. It was getting to the point where the clones were so comfortable with their commander in the sleeping bay that they ceased adjusting their habitual routines around her; they now wore however little to the showers, or changed clothes with her in the room as they pleased, much to the ire of their captain.

The large sleeping bay in the 501st barracks, neatly cluttered with bunks and personal lockers, seemed sparser. Ahsoka remembered hearing Rex complain to her master that the 501st wasn't scheduled to receive fresh soldiers for several months still. Many top bunks were vacant; their owners' names graced the memorial wall on one side of the bay. Neat columns of hand-written names lined the wall, separated chronologically by battles, of every fallen 501st soldier.

Ahsoka passed the memorial wall following Rex to Fives' bunk, and chancing a peek at the newest addition under the heading of LOLA SAYU—CITADEL, she found the names CHARGER and ECHO.

Fives sat in his undersuit on the edge of his bunk, elbows on his knees, dejected gaze on the ground. Ahsoka didn't even ask permission before sitting next to him, resting a hand on his arm. Rex took this moment to leave them in favor of reprimanding several conspicuously bare-chested soldiers clear on the other side of the room.

Ahsoka could feel the fatigued anguish radiating from her friend. "When was the last time you slept?"

Bleary, blood-shot eyes lifted to take her in as if Fives just realized she was there. He hung his head again silently. She squeezed his arm.

"Fives—"

"Can't sleep," he muttered in a voice that sounded like even whispering was an effort. "Every time I try, I see the explosion. I see his helmet rolling..." Both hands went to his eyes as if he could wipe the memory from sight. "And nothing I've done has gotten rid of the _smell_."

"Smell?" Self consciously, Ahsoka subtly sniffed her own shirt. Fives' hands dropped into his lap.

"Burning flesh. Hasn't gone away. And the best part is..." A disgusted laugh slipped out. "I don't even know if it was from that night, or if it's just some... phantom smell from every battle I've ever been in." The wide arc in which he flung one hand mirrored the bitter emotional spike she felt in his Force signature. Talking about his problems was only making him more aggravated.

Ahsoka wrapped her arms around him and pulled the unresisting clone into her shoulder. Fives vented a shaky breath, completely limp against her. "Kix and them've been in here, trying to get me to go out and get my mind off of things." A pang of guilt accented his words. Ahsoka lifted one hand to stroke through his hair soothingly.

"Don't let that bother you. Mourn," she advised in a low tone. "Mourn how you have to." She felt his restrained sob skid across her neck and found herself blinking back a similar emotion from her stinging eyes.

Minutes later, Fives shifted slightly to raise his head. "Wh...what happened with the mission? The information?"

Unwittingly, Ahsoka's hand stroked Fives' hair a little rougher. "We had to tell the Supreme Chancellor. Like Tarkin wanted." Fives mustered an incredulous grunt.

"I hate that karkin' _shabuir_."

Despite herself, Ahsoka grinned. Her hand turned soft again, and she started a slow, lulling rock side to side. "We all do."

* * *

**A.N. I never minded Tarkin in the OT. Then he appeared in TCW and ugh. What a little prima donna. **


	11. Curfew

Curfew

* * *

Something was missing.

Ahsoka basked in the glory of her shower for a good half hour before she even contemplated she might need to get out soon. After being mud-caked for days chased by Trandoshans high on bloodlust, Ahsoka had a _shower_. Although sonic showers cleaned more efficiently, there was something so much more comforting and relaxing about water. All Ahsoka wanted to ward off the bad memories of this ordeal was comfort now.

Despite surviving countless battles in victory and defeat, Ahsoka had never felt _hunted_ like she was on the moon of Wasskah. She never had qualms about destroying battle droids or killing Separatists before. But her Trandoshan captors had no allegiance in the galactic war; they were neutral, sentient beings that just wanted her dead. For sport. Ahsoka had never liked to think that aliens outside of the Sith and Separatist influence could be bad.

Her eye-opening experience on the Trandoshan moon left her a little empty inside. Ahsoka had hoped— had expected— when Sugi's ship _Halo_ touched down on the Jedi Temple's public landing pad, that she would find that missing piece to make everything all right again. She felt a flare of anticipation when her master found her there that everything would return to normal; the galaxy would just fall back into place again.

He had clearly been relieved to see her. He had been proud to hear of her accomplishments. But they parted inside the Temple and Ahsoka still felt like something was missing.

The Togruta stepped out of the shower in time to hear her comlink beep under the crusty layer of mud covering her bracers. Ahsoka rushed amid a tangle of towel into the adjoining room to answer it.

"_Commander!"_ It sounded like three voices that didn't quite grasp the concept of "on cue," but they brought a smile to her face nonetheless. One voice rose above the others. _"We heard you're back, sir. Visit us?"_

"_Shebs, Hardcase, you can't just ask the commander to visit..." _The ensuing squabble drowned out any other messages. Only Ahsoka's promise to stop by when she could calmed them down. The sound of their elation tugged at her heart; it was the first time that someone expressed happiness and excitement at her being home. Anakin had bowed to her and shared a relieved smile. At the time, she sensed he kept a firm clamp on his emotions, as was the Jedi way.

It was those emotions she was missing.

* * *

Her clothes were easy to clean; it was everything else that took effort. Ahsoka sat on the floor scrubbing away at her second bracer when a knock came from her door.

"Come in," she called, smiling when she felt the familiar presence. Ahsoka didn't even have to look up when Anakin entered to stand with his hands on his hips, regarding her activity.

"Well?" the Togruta asked. She indicated her still dirty boots and belt in front of her with a nod. "If you're gonna be in here, you might as well help, Master. I have places to be." She spared him a smile.

"You haven't even been back half a day, Snips. You can rest, you know," Anakin said with a grin. Nonetheless, he sat down across from her, snatched up the one clean bracer and examined it. Neither seemed to be in a hurry to talk. Anakin scrutinized her bracer like it was an inspectable item in a GAR equipment layout; Ahsoka scrubbed its mate like she was preparing for a GAR inspection. Minutes passed.

Anakin glanced up. "For a moment out there, I thought I'd just imagined you coming back, and that you were really still lost somewhere in the galaxy." Ahsoka could feel all his restraint, just like back on the landing pad. They locked eyes.

"I'm here, Master," she said evenly. "This wasn't the first time we weren't in the same star system."

"At least in those other times I knew where you were. I knew you were among people who could help you." Anakin finally stopped fumbling with the bracer and dropped it. "Losing you like that... made me feel so powerless."

"Sometimes you act like the weight of the galaxy's on your shoulders. You trained me well, Master. You don't have to worry about me so much." Ahsoka gave her bracer a quick check before exchanging it for her dirty belt. "If you're like this now, you'll be a completely crazed mynock when I'm a Jedi Knight flying to all corners of the galaxy."

"Whoa, let's not get ahead of ourselves, Snips," Anakin said, grin cracking anew. A moment later, his expression slipped back into impassivity. "There are rumors we could be back out there within the week. Rest up until then; take it easy." He reached forward to give her knee a pat before pushing himself to his feet.

Ahsoka watched him, eye markings lifted hopefully, but Anakin's emotions were trapped more decisively than ever. He exited her room, leaving the Togruta with the same empty longing in her chest.

Once none of Ahsoka's effects could even hint that she had spent any time on a Trandoshan moon, the Togruta headed out to the 501st barracks. The two guards manning the front desk merely nodded to her. During the mandatory charge of quarters shifts, guards were required to keep documentation of any visitors; they always just waved Ahsoka through.

On the second floor of the barracks, whatever was not designated an exercise area was considered the common room. Chairs only passing for nice in comparison to GAR regulation surrounded cheap tables adjacent to viewing screens. The room was well-populated: mostly shirtless clones were swarming the exercise machines while comfortably dressed clones played cards at tables or bickered over which channel to watch.

Ahsoka stopped one pace inside the door to take in all the normalcy. The 501st was as animated as ever, and it brought a smile to her face even before she heard the outcry of, "Commander!" A wave of soldiers ran to her and broke against her in one hug after another. Their embraces were almost therapeutic.

"We've been waiting for you, sir," said Kix once he disentangled himself from her arms. He stepped back and let Hardcase nearly tackle her in his enthusiasm.

"You're all here for me?" Ahsoka asked, eyes widening. She observed even the exercising clones nearing to join the celebratory huddle.

"Where else would we be, sir, when you're back?" Gamma said. He couldn't get close enough for a hug so he relegated himself to patting her on the back. The huddle slowly migrated further into the room, leading Ahsoka toward the view screens.

"Guys, I can practically list the clubs and cantinas you go to by name."

Jesse laughed. "Why would we go there when you're here, sir?"

"Right," added Longshot. "It's not like the 501st can go there anytime soon anyway..." A collective groan emanated from the huddle.

Ahsoka fought back a smirk, but allowed a head shake. "You guys are banned _again_?"

"Pending a GAR review!" Hardcase argued hotly. "But let's not talk about that." By group effort, the topic changed as the clones wanted to hear about Ahsoka's escapades on the moon of Wasskah. They sat her in one of the decent chairs while most everyone else claimed floor space for story time.

Every once in awhile, Ahsoka found things she preferred about GAR life over the Jedi Order. The Jedi stoically listened to the highlights of Ahsoka's adventure, commended her on her bravery, and moved on. The 501st waited with bated breath to hear Ahsoka's account, interrupted her often to demand more details, and reacted to her words with the same amount of enthusiasm as when they would watch a podracing event with credits hanging in the balance.

"I woulda shot 'em right there," became the clones' mantra whenever Ahsoka discussed a different Trandoshan hunter. By the time Ahsoka explained how the Wookiees intervened, the clones were on the verge of cheering.

"...And that's how bounty hunters and Wookiees saved me," the Togruta concluded with one hand on her necklace. She swept her gaze over the crowded room, taking in all the enthralled faces. The quiet room quickly erupted in noise: troopers began discussing the adventure with their neighbors, or headed back to their exercise equipment, or returned to card games.

"Coric," she said, turning to the trooper sitting at the table next to her, "where's R— Captain Rex?"

The medic was already dealing cards to everyone else at the table; he replied slowly as he put more effort into counting out the right amount of hands. "Cap'n's been gone... General Kenobi stole him for some mission."

She scanned the room once more. "What about Fives?"

"Special mission. Been gone longer than the Captain, sir," Jesse supplied from the other side of her. Ahsoka didn't have a moment to frown before Kix and Hardcase came scuttling back into the common room, bearing snacks and holofilms, to the cheers of the rest of the clones. A vote immediately started on what to watch, but since the choices were between several war films and one romance-drama, the latter won out on the basis it would be the most believable.

"For the record, I wanted to see the one about the first battle of Geonosis," Ahsoka told Kix when he passed her a bowl of snacks.

"And this is why we don't let you vote anymore, Commander," he responded with a smile.

Nearly at the end of the movie, long after the snacks had been decimated, someone's observation that it was nearly their 2300 curfew created a flurry of activity as the clones tried to straighten up the common room while herding Ahsoka out.

"Since when has there been a curfew?" she asked, only to be met with inarticulate mumbling. Three different soldiers had their hands on her back pushing her toward the exit. "Really, guys, what happened while I was gone?"

"It's pending a GAR review, sir!" cried Hardcase, somewhere in the middle of the cleaning bustle.

* * *

The next few days crawled by. Anakin grew increasingly irritated when the Council put him and his padawan on notice to ship out without giving a specific departure date. He left Ahsoka to her own devices, but with the notice enacted, Ahsoka was severely limited on the distance she could travel from the Temple anyway.

She tried to tell herself it gave her more time for reflection and meditation. But the Togruta soon discovered that looking within herself uncovered no answers; her aching spirit remained, waiting for something outside herself to provide that unknown missing piece.

During one afternoon meditation, as Ahsoka was again despondently hunting for answers, she felt a presence from elsewhere in the Temple waft into her room like incense. It seemed to draw to Ahsoka, a welcoming, familiar feel, to spiral around her and merge with her own presence, filling the gaps snugly.

Ahsoka's eyes snapped open. She was out the door not even a second later, bounding down the halls like an anooba tracking the scent of prey. Just when the padawan thought she lost the trail at a hallway junction, two doors to the briefing room opened further down the opposite hall and out walked a clone decorated with Jaig eyes.

Ahsoka's breath caught. "Rex!" He only had time to halt in surprise before Ahsoka ran down the hall and launched straight into his arms. Barely a second later Rex pushed her away, his visor zipping up and down the corridor at the Temple goers. A couple padawans hurried by, several older Jedi tottered along further down the hall, a master and padawan duo passed through an adjacent hallway, but no one seemed to pay them any attention.

"I've missed you!" Ahsoka continued. Her wide eyes danced with emotions she couldn't share with other Jedi. She basked in her captain's presence, contrastingly calming and electrifying all at once. It gave her aching spirit fulfillment while she still felt, to a lesser degree now, that unquenchable longing for more.

"Good to see you safe, littl'un," Rex finally said. He pulled away from her and continued on his way, Ahsoka at his heels.

"So, where've you been? Did you just get back? Where are you going now?" His rushed pace was second nature for Ahsoka anymore.

Rex cast a glance behind him. "What's with all the questions? General Skywalker called me here after I landed to share news about his mission to Mon Calamari."

"Oh." The Togruta trailed after him down several corridors until he was in the grand hall headed for the towering front door. "You know your way around the Temple anymore." When Rex didn't reply, Ahsoka reached out to scrutinize his Force signature, only to discover that similar emotional clamp she felt from her master. At least it made sense with Anakin: Jedi were not supposed to be controlled by emotion. But Rex wasn't a Jedi and had no obvious reason for being so restrained.

Ahsoka followed him out the entrance and down the steps. "Weren't you going to see me after you got back? Comm me? Anything?" At her words, the captain paused at the bottom of the stairs long enough for her to pull in front of him, eye markings bunching in confusion. "Did you even know I was back?"

"Of course I knew." His immediate response sounded both offended and frustrated. Ahsoka could feel the firm grip around his emotions straining. "I've been busy since I got back, kid. I still have all my reports to submit from General Kenobi's mission. I didn't have time—"

"To comm me a quick 'hey, welcome back?'"

"The planet doesn't exactly revolve around you, Commander."

Ahsoka's shoulders slumped at the same angle as her eye markings. "Rex..." She rested a hand on his arm and could feel the clamp over his emotions buckle. "I just want to spend time with you before we get caught up in the next mission."

He vented an almost weary sigh. "Look, if you want, I can comm you when all my mission reports are done _if_ no more orders come down from higher. Deal?"

"Deal!" Ahsoka said with an enthusiastic bounce, wearing a much wider smile than she had the entire time in the 501st common room.

Rex's fortitude collapsing hit her like the aftershock from Separatist artillery. He slipped a gloved hand under her rear lek and pulled her closer to give her a light headbutt with his helmet. "Missed y'too, kid," was all he uttered before walking away. He left her with a twitching smile and wide eyes.

* * *

Ahsoka could have attempted meditating, or practiced her katas, or sought out Anakin to ask for mission updates, but her mind was too busy being consumed by anxiousness to settle down enough for any of that. Her legs wouldn't stop moving and she ended up pacing around her room for a half hour after getting back. When she finally could sit down, her mind quickly grew uninterested in everything she picked up: datapads, holozines, her lightsabers, her necklace.

Eventually she dropped everything to check the chrono on her wrist every couple of minutes. As time dragged on, her anticipation was proportionally replaced by exasperation. The worst part was Ahsoka didn't quite understand why her emotions were keyed up as much as they were; meditation wouldn't calm her down because she was too antsy to concentrate. Her mind kept wandering back to that headbutt, and how it had knocked something intangible into her empty chest, only to tear it out again when Rex had left.

Hours later, her beeping comlink startled her from sleep. Ahsoka glanced around her room bleary-eyed to see that she was still dressed, lying prone on her bed with the lights on; she couldn't recall when she had actually fallen asleep. Her chrono told her the time was 2248 hours.

"Ahsoka here," she sighed, rubbing one eye.

"_Hey, __littl'un__,"_ came the voice that never failed to bring her to her senses. He sounded just as fatigued. _"Did I wake you?"_

When she haltingly responded in the negative, he continued, _"Just got done with everything here, but I won't have time to meet up tonight with the curfew __starting in about... ten minutes__."_

Ahsoka let her head flop back down onto her mattress. It muffled her question. "That applies to you, too?"

"_It applies to the entire battalion."_

"What did you guys _do_?" Ahsoka asked, raising her head to rest a montral on her hand.

A dejected sigh came over the transmission. _"It's... pending a GAR review."_

"I've heard that before. But _what_ did you guys _do_?" With as long as Rex had worked with his commander, he had to have picked up on the dangerous intonation in her voice, even over a comlink.

A badgered grunt preceded: _"Apparently, some soldiers snuck females into the barracks after one of their weekend passes and the sergeant on duty found them all, resulting in a curfew and a new restricted list of available cantinas and clubs."_

"Were you one of the guys to sneak someone in?" Ahsoka immediately asked, one hand grabbing a fistful of sheets. Her eye markings lowered in the long silence that followed.

"_Your vote of confidence is inspiring. Really,"_ the captain intoned. _"__This__ happened while I was off planet, too, kid."_

The Togruta covered her mouth a second too late after breathing a sigh of relief; he probably heard that. Since Rex wasn't physically there, Ahsoka found that for the first time after returning planetside, words were actually comforting.

She was on her side now, almost cuddling her comlink as she waited for him to say more. Only after a minute passed in silence did Ahsoka realize he might be waiting for her to do the same.

"_Hey, kid, I'm gonna turn in. I'll see you another time." _

"Tomorrow?" she piped up hopefully. She heard a low laugh.

"_I've got too many tasks tomorrow, and I suspect you've got Jedi things to do, too. Another time, littl'un. Have a good night."_

"Bye," Ahsoka mumbled. The padawan continued to lie curled around her comlink long after the conversation ended, as if it emitted badly-needed residual tranquility.

Finally, about half a week after returning from her harrowing adventure on Wasskah, Ahsoka was starting to feel the galaxy returning to normal. Her broken spirit was slowly being mended, one person at a time. This last person seemed to have put most of the pieces back in place all by himself. His words, even when talking about nothing important, had been more meaningful than anything spoken by her master or the other Jedi. His touch that had caught her completely off guard and made her nonsensical for the better part of the evening was exactly what satisfied her gaping spirit.

After terrorizing hardships on a foreign moon, what Ahsoka really needed was her captain.

* * *

**A.N. It bothered me more than it should've that at the end of season 3 when Ahsoka returns to the temple, Anakin just bows to her. Really, guy? She almost died at every turn on that moon and she doesn't even get a hug from her master. *flips table***


	12. Snips

Snips

* * *

It was sometimes astounding how much could go wrong in forty-eight hours.

Ahsoka steered the _Twilight_ toward the upper atmosphere of the planet Trulalis, weaving side to side as laser fire streaked past them, one or two shots close enough to rip small, nonessential panels off the wing or the hull. Tup sat in the co-pilot's seat calling out the increasing proximity of the mass of vulture droids following them in a voice far from composed. The ship rocked unsteadily both from the barrage of enemy fire and from gravity attempting to reclaim them.

Just two days earlier, Ahsoka's life had been completely different, roaming the halls aboard the fleet's flagship as it prowled the Outer Rim not long after Anakin and Ahsoka's mission on Mon Calamari. Then they received word that the Repulic-leaning planet of Trulalis had been invaded by Separatists. Every town and city the Separatists marched into on their way to the capital of Prola renounced the Republic; Ahsoka demanded Anakin and Admiral Yularen go to the planet's aid. A quick message to the Jedi Council had been answered with a denial: Trulalis posed no tactical advantage; increasingly expensive clone troopers would not be risked on this.

But Ahsoka's relentless petitions to help the people finally broke her master's resolve. Fighting his reservations, Anakin allowed her to choose a squad and embark on the _Twilight_. His words still rang clear in her mind: _"You have forty-eight standard __hours to find something. Do _not_ engage the enemy. Your mission is recon _only_." _

And here they were, leading a pack of vulture droids directly toward the fleet. Her master was going to kill her. But thinking back on it, her mission couldn't have ended any better considering the circumstances.

* * *

Ahsoka lay on her stomach in line with Gamma and Longshot; the sniper was glued to his weapon scope, the spotter watched through macrobinoculars, the Togruta rested her chin on her hands. All three hid under the bountiful cover of a forested mountainside in pastel springtime bloom overlooking a rather small town nestled amidst sprawling fields on Trulalis. They were carefully tracking a company of Separatist droids marching in formation into town.

_Find something. A reason to come to Trulalis' aid. Evidence that Trulalis was worth defending with soldiers too expensive to replace. _

So here they were, having landed well away from Separatist eyes, Ahsoka took the sniper team one way and the remaining soldiers spread out to infiltrate nearby towns. The troopers had a much better chance of blending into the mainly human population than Ahsoka.

"What are they doing now?" their commander asked for the second time in the last minute. No matter how much Ahsoka squinted in the afternoon sun, from their vantage point she could only see people the size of datapad letters standing in front of the black mass of similarly sized Separatist droids. The clankers were trying to funnel through the town's entry gate; the majority of the droids remained in formation along the road leading into town.

"Looks like someone's speaking for the town," said Gamma. "Mayor or something. Dressed fancy."

"He's not very happy..." added Longshot distractedly. "Looks like he's shouting and— oh! That wasn't nice."

"What happened?"

"Droid just shot the mayor," muttered Longshot. Ahsoka saw hundreds of flashing red lights spring up.

"They're opening fire on the whole town," Gamma said darkly.

The Togruta popping to her knees the next instant, lightsaber in hand, drew the spotter's attention.

"Stay low, sir! Even if we _were_ free to engage, the three of us couldn't take on a whole company of Seppies! And beyond that, by the time we even reached them from this distance, it'd be too late for everyone."

Ahsoka forced herself back down into the prone position and hid her vengeful expression in her arms. She heard Longshot shifting his rifle around.

"They're starting to set fire to the buildings. Not much more we can gain by watching this."

Both soldiers low crawled into the dense tree cover behind them before getting up; Ahsoka followed in a crouch. It took the three the better part of an hour to wind their way down the mountain along their own created paths through foliage, back to their camp.

About halfway to their objective, they reached a two hundred meter stretch of mountainside devoid of blooming trees or any kind of greenery. It was just two blue-and-white soldiers and an orange Jedi against the dark mountainside of sheer rock. When they had nearly made it to the encompassing forest beyond, red blaster fire shot up from the fields far below.

Ahsoka ignited her lightsabers barely a moment later to deflect what she could, but most of their fire was concentrated on the soldiers in front of her. Longshot gave a grunt and tottered; he stumbled too far to the side only to fall over the edge. Gamma cried out in protest before Ahsoka tackled him into the treeline. The spotter immediately pushed her off of him and ran back to the cliffside to return fire, shouting every obscenity at the Separatists that came to mind. Ahsoka used all her strength and a touch of Force to drag Gamma once again into the cover of the dense forest.

"It's too late, Gamma! We have to keep moving!"

"We're not leaving him behind!" snarled the trooper, trying to break free of her arms. The Togruta grabbed his helmet and jerked his visor around to look at her.

"Gamma, he's gone! I can feel it. And we'll be in the same situation if we stay here too long now that the enemy knows we're here," Ahsoka replied evenly. She had one hand ready to perform a mind trick if need be, but fortunately Gamma nodded at her explanation.

He followed at her heels, his rifle positioned a little higher than the low ready, muttering, "He always did everything before me..."

* * *

The _Twilight_ shot free of the planet's atmosphere. Its rotating laser cannon and heavy blasters caught an enemy fighter every once in awhile and sent the ones that didn't outright explode spinning into the planet's orbit, but for the most part the vultures remained as evasive as Ahsoka's own piloting.

"Tup, get a message to the fleet!" Ahsoka shouted as one unfortunately lucky enemy shot rattled their ship. "Tell 'em we're coming in hot and we _need_ assistance!"

* * *

The sun started slipping behind a distant mountain by the time Gamma and Ahsoka reentered the cave where their camp was hidden. Several stacks of armor lined one wall guarded by one especially bored-looking trooper sitting in civilian traveling clothes, long hair pulled back into a bun. He immediately perked up when he recognized his teammates.

"Welcome back, Commander! How was recon?" His smile faltered. "Where's Longshot?" As if in response, a foreboding clap of thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance.

Gamma pulled off his helmet and sent it hurtling into the pile of rocks that made up the back wall of the cave. When all he did was growl and sputter during his predatory pacing, Tup turned his inquiring gaze back on his commander.

"We were attacked," she replied softly. Ahsoka took a seat next to Tup but continued to bestow empathetic gazes on Gamma. "The clankers spotted us when we had no cover and hit Longshot. We lost them when we got into the trees, though, so camp is still safe."

A kick to Gamma's helmet sent it ricocheting into the stacks of other clone armor, making Ahsoka wince. She remembered not too long before this mission how the 501st soldiers were beside themselves with excitement after receiving their brand new Phase II armor. They spent about a week painting it all while lamenting at how shiny it was, suggesting the Kaminoans could've at least sent it with a couple blaster marks to assure the clones it actually worked.

Gamma dropped onto his backside and hid his face in his hands. The remaining two in the cave elected to give him some semblance of privacy as the thunder resounded outside.

"How'd your search go?" Ahsoka asked in the same quiet tone. She eyed his traveling clothes approvingly; with his cloak and other dark, nondescript clothes, Tup looked like any other human, even with his unique teardrop facial tattoo.

"I didn't make it to any towns before I had to pull guard, I just scouted the farms nearby, sir," replied Tup in a voice to match. "They all seemed normal. They either had fields of vegetables or grain or flowers. I didn't come across any Seppies, but I wasn't out too long. I relieved Nurv and he headed to the nearest town."

"Flowers?" Ahsoka repeated, smiling. Tup just nodded. The thunder, emphatic in its impending deluge, echoed right over their heads, as if the tall mountain peak had snagged the storm cloud, prohibiting it from drifting on. A couple raindrops fell on the stone outside the cave. Then a couple more. A light shower followed. Minutes later the rain was so thick it looked as if it would have to be drawn aside like a curtain for anyone to successfully leave the cave.

Ahsoka checked her chrono. "Where _is_ everyone? We were supposed to regroup fifteen minutes ago." Her eyes slid warily back to the rain. At the beginning of the mission, the group had decided that they would not be able to make transmissions of any kind planetside because the Separatists were guaranteed to pick up on their Republic encryption, even if they wouldn't successfully understand the messages themselves.

"I'm sure they're fine, sir," Tup reassured in a voice to compete with the volume of nature. The rain was loud enough now to conceal any sounds coming from Gamma in the back of the cave. After another glance at the bald clone, Ahsoka hefted herself to her feet and approached Gamma. He let her fold her arms around him without acknowledging her.

The rain didn't let up before Nurv and Fuse came running into the shelter of the cave, their soaking wet knee-length travel cloaks doing nothing for them anymore. Both were panting; Nurv threw his hood from his head and ran a hand through his dark mohawk, while Fuse shrugged out of his cloak entirely, letting it suction to the cave floor in one saturated lump. Fuse's hair appeared to be in the fuzz stage and an impressive burn scar dominated the left side of his face. Wordlessly, he started pulling his shirt over his head as well, teeth chattering.

"Hey!" Tup shouted. "This isn't the sleeping bay!" A pronounced nod at Ahsoka followed. "And where's the captain?"

Nurv's shrug was indistinguishable amid his intense shivering once his cloak came off. "D-d-dunno. We all w-went to d-different towns."

Fuse seemed tangled in his wet shirt once Tup stopped him from stripping. "Kriffin' f-fek, vod. At least s-start a f-fire... or somethin'!" Despite Tup's protests, Fuse succeeded in tearing off his shirt and dropped it in the same pile as his cloak. Then he looked at his pants with calculated interest.

A third figure plowed into the cave then, clothes so drenched it appeared he brought the rainstorm inside. Wearing the same clothes as all the other incognito clones, no one even had to speculate who it was. Rex tossed a bag from under his cloak into Tup's lap before pulling the traveling cape off. It fell onto the ground as well, landing in the clones' newly formed lake.

Tup dug through the blessedly waterproof bag to reveal civilian instant meal packs. He immediately tossed two in Ahsoka's direction. Gamma now sat with his head buried in his arms resting across his knees, not even leaning into Ahsoka as she sat with one arm about his rounded shoulders; oblivious to the world. Fuse still shivered topless, hugging his arms to himself and grumbling for a fire.

"All the fuel for it's out there," Rex said, pointing back into the rain. "Feel free." The captain cast a quick glance about the cave and managed a, "Where's—" before he caught Ahsoka's warning look. Tup distributed all but the last meal pack. They only had about a minute or two to eat in peace before Rex ignited a glow rod from his gear, setting it in the middle of the cave to let everyone evenly bask in the dim light.

Leaning against the wall, open meal pack in one hand, Rex asked, "Who found anything worthwhile today?" For a moment it looked as if the soldiers were too interested in eating something besides ration bars to answer. The soaking wet clones seemed to have escaped the grasp of the freezing chill at last.

"The town two clicks east of here," Fuse started amid a full mouth, "says the clankers are building something big in one of their fields. They can't tell what it is yet. Prolly an outpost."

Rex only picked at his meal. "Could be a staging area," he said, mostly to himself. As the rain eased into a gentle shower, the team heard him perfectly. "A safe haven for the Seppies in the Outer Rim."

"That's something, right?" Ahsoka spoke up from the back of the cave. "If they're building anything, we can take action and stop them!" Her enthusiasm seemed to grate on the clones the way their dismal expressions regarded her. But maybe it was just the way the glow rod shone its unflattering, inorganic light on all their faces.

"We'll have to check it out, just to be sure," said Rex. He seemed to ignore his commander's frustrated groan as he continued, "That's better than anything I found. The town south of here folded to the clankers right when they marched in led by some captain droid. They demanded the townspeople stay away from the fields and said Trulalis doesn't belong to the Republic anymore."

Nurv pulled off his shirt to wring it out into the cave floor lake. "So... what you're saying is, the Separatists came all this way to pick up agriculture?"

"Stranger things have happened," intoned Tup.

"The town west of here," Ahsoka spoke up, "apparently didn't give in to the Seppies. They were all shot and their town burned." Any bit of mirth from possible jokes the clones had brewing in their minds about farming clankers completely fizzled out as their expressions slipped into somberness.

"Nurv, what'd you find?" Rex asked. His slightly snappish tone reflected his judgmental gaze scrutinizing his brother's bare chest.

"Uh. My town was big into theater. Apparently the performing arts are the most prestigious jobs out here. So when the Seppies came in, the Trulalian surrender was karkin' dramatic."

"Right," the captain groaned. "Tomorrow we just need to find out what the Seps are building, why they're here, and who's in charge of it all." The daunting tasks were all the more urgent when Ahsoka checked her chrono to find they only had thirty-two hours left in their mission, including how much time would be spent passing the night in the cave. The meeting implicitly adjourned, Rex discarded his food in order to retreat to the front of the cave, while the other three clones put full effort into devouring their meals

Gamma, who hadn't even looked at his portion once, soon rolled onto his side presumably to catch some sleep, his back to his commander. With a final pat to his shoulder, she let him be in favor of joining Rex at the cave entrance, edging around the small lake. Nurv and Fuse took advantage of her inattention to change from their wet civvies into their bodysuits; they were far from secretive about it and their griping echoed throughout the cave.

Rex leaned against the rock wall with one hand outstretched into the rain. "There's something so calming about this," he told his commander as he made a fist, almost trying to capture the raindrops for himself. He finally tore his hypnotized gaze away from nature to look at Ahsoka, who was only watching him. "I'm guessing the clankers know we're here?"

"They made us when we were about halfway down the mountain. They'll be looking for clones in armor; I don't give them enough credit to recognize you in civilian clothes. But either way, it's best to move camp as soon as possible tomorrow morning." Ahsoka hugged her arms around herself as both of them turned their gazes onto the rain.

"We probably should've left already," Rex muttered. Ahsoka just shook her head.

"We're safe for the night. They attacked us far from here; there's no way they'll find us before morning." She soon added in a distracted voice, "You should change, too. I'll take first watch."

"No," Rex immediately negated. "You sleep. We only need four watches; the guys and I'll handle it." The Togruta rounded on him, her hands on her hips, but he steadfastly remained facing the rain.

"You'll be sick by morning if you don't take care of yourself!" argued Ahsoka. His half-hearted shrug only made her eye markings slant lower.

"Kid, I've got this shift. That's final—"

"Don't make me pull rank, _Captain_."

"Snips—" Rex halted himself at that, closing his eyes in regret as a wince passed over his face; Ahsoka's expression melted into sheer glee.

"_What_ did you call me?" She edged around in front of Rex as he kept inching his face toward the cave wall. Eventually he gave up and looked at her.

"S...Soka."

Her eyes were alight with mirth. "No. That's not what I heard." Rex gave a groan before hiding his face in one hand, away from his commander's wide smile. "I'll tell you what," she began, "you go change, let me take this shift, and we'll forget all about this."

Rex immediately spun around to hunt down his body suit without another word or glance at Ahsoka.

* * *

Tup easily contacted the fleet; apparently their predicament already registered on the fleet's radar and Admiral Yularen had been seconds away from contacting them first.

"_Snips,"_ Anakin's voice came over the transmission, _"remember that order I gave you to not engage the enemy?"_

"Yeah...?"

"_Looks like you've got about thirty engaged enemies on your tail. Forty more are coming up through the atmosphere. Good job there, my young padawan."_ The end of his rebuke was lost amid a violent shudder of the _Twilight_.

"They took out our laser cannon!" shouted Tup as lights flashed across the command console and an alarm blared from somewhere behind them.

Ahsoka gritted her teeth, banking hard to the left; she out-maneuvered the two enemy ships closest to the _Twilight_ before correcting her course. "Any help would be greatly _appreciated_, Master!"

"_Our pilots are already on their way,_ _Snips." _

* * *

Ahsoka's attention was fixed on the cave entrance until the clones started jolting awake far too often. Every one of them awoke numerous times during her shift, some less violently than others. Gamma was the worst, bolting upright with a gasp for at least the third time. He sat silently awhile before attempting to sleep again.

She had heard clones discuss nightmares before, but had never realized the extent of it. Every time they awoke, Ahsoka felt a pang of guilt, or fear, or heartache radiate so strongly from them that all she wanted to do was hug each and every one of them. Their emotions never lasted long. They tried to push them back into the depths like good soldiers before returning to sleep.

Halfway through her shift, Ahsoka's empathetic spirit couldn't take it anymore. One by one, she reached out into their minds and forced a lulling calm to descend on them, dropping them into a deep, dreamless sleep. Their fearful, negative emotions evaporated almost instantly, leaving the clones and Ahsoka in peace.

* * *

**A.N. This mission turned into a three-parter.**

**If anyone dislikes the Rexsoka ship, you may find the next two... maybe three... chapters disagreeable. ****On that note, next update will be next Wednesday. :)**


	13. His overstep

His overstep

* * *

The rain stopped by the second guard shift. By the fourth shift, the mountainside glistened in the first cold rays of dawn persistent enough to filter through an early morning fog. Fuse efficiently woke the rest of the team before returning to the cave entrance. The clones decided to don their armor both because it was the most practical way to transport it and because their civilian clothes were still damp. Tup suggested wearing their traveling cloaks on top of their armor to at least not stand out so blatantly in the morning dimness.

Ahsoka tentatively leaned out of the cave, squinting into the murky forest beyond. Satisfied, she waved for the troopers to follow. A gloved hand yanked her back.

"I take point," Rex decided firmly, poking his thumb over his shoulder. "You bring up the rear. Your sabers are the best line of defense we have and I don't feel like getting shot in the back today." He edged around her and exited the cave, followed by Tup, then Nurv, who shouldered the waterproof bag stuffed full with all their civvies.

"And what if they pop up in front?" Ahsoka called after him.

"Sprint!"

Fuse and Gamma fell in line, drawing their traveling hoods over their helmets almost simultaneously. Biting the inside of her cheek, she followed Gamma, enjoying the odd sight of five clone troopers wearing dark, non-GAR-issued cloaks over their white armor.

Even the animals seemed cautious about breaking the silence that morning, as if they sensed the danger from where they hid. The troopers weren't exactly the epitome of silence, either; flora and fallen branches crunched underfoot as Rex forged a trail through areas of least resistance. They waded through patches of fog in varying thickness while dodging trees, some so close they grazed armor. Ahsoka often searched the way they had just come for any signs of movement, organic or otherwise, but for the most part everything was lost in the fog.

By the time the morning sun scattered the shades of night to the far horizon, all members of the party knelt at the edge of the forest not far past the base of the mountain. They gazed out over rolling hills blanketed in expansive fields, periodically interrupted by clusters of towns. The thinning fog mainly clung to the wooded mountain, leaving the cultivated lands clear. A couple birds flitted in the sky. One local farmer bustled in his field in the distance.

"I didn't see any signs of droids coming down the mountain, sir," Nurv intoned to the captain. "Or the downpour last night washed away all evidence." Rex shook his head.

"If the Seppies saw any GAR personnel last night, I can't believe they wouldn't tear the mountain apart searching for us," he muttered. "It's like they just gave up."

"Sir, it's a big mountain," Gamma spoke up for the first time since yesterday.

"Fuse!" Rex called. "Lead us to your town. I want eyes on what the Seppies are building." The demolitions expert popped up to take lead, skirting the edge of the forest. Rex fell in immediately behind him, followed by the rest. Ahsoka glanced across the seemingly endless fields, blending into different colors with each different crop. It was all a little too quiet.

Wisps of smoke curled from several different directions, slipping from houses in the surrounding towns. Fuse broke away from the trees to lead the squad through green crops stretching as high as the clones' shoulders.

"I remember an old barn near the outskirts of town," Fuse called behind him. "We can stage our gear there." He zig-zagged through the rows of vegetation, eventually crossing into purple-tinged crops resembling wheat, reaching the soldiers' elbows. Halfway through this acreage, Fuse held up a fist, immediately halting the rest in line. Ahsoka's gaze zipped to the area behind them, but all she could see was vegetation bowing to the wind.

A motorized hum from off in the distance caught their attention, steadily creeping closer. Despite Tup whispering it was just a hover harvester, everyone took a knee, letting the purple crops consume them. The machine rumbled by thirty or so meters away from them, just far enough for them to observe over the top of the crops the battle droid driving it.

Several helmets swung around, visors connecting to each other, possibly in private conversations. They watched the machine pass with its Separatist driver before slinking off through the crops in a crouch. Several meters later, the group crossed into rows of flower bushes, no taller than their knees. The flowers were a dark shade of green while the rest of the deceptively spiky plant was a pale pink. At the far end of this field were a dozen or so battle droids surrounding two manual harvesters only slightly larger than themselves.

Before the group could even turn to run back into the purple wheat, half of the droids pointed at them. A second later, red blaster fire followed, scattering the soldiers. Two lightsabers diverted as much enemy fire as Ahsoka could, but the clones had spread too far for her to protect them all.

"We have to get out of here!" shouted Rex, already returning fire. "More will come— who knows how many of 'em are out here?!"

One clone bolted across the field toward the enemy, shooting sporadically, dark cape fluttering.

"Gamma!" Tup cried. "What the kriff are you doing?! Get back here!" He jumped to his feet and advanced a pace as Ahsoka started running after him, only to both be stalled by Rex.

"No! He's not coming back."

One scowl crossed Ahsoka's face before she broke into a sprint, lightsabers chopping through the air behind her. She closed in on Gamma, surprisingly not hit yet, when she perceived something small and round in the soldier's hand. The padawan banked too hard to the side and ended up sliding along the ground in her haste to turn around. Her lightsabers receded; she clawed at the ground and reached into the Force to boost herself back toward her soldiers. The initial shockwave from Gamma's detonator still caught her, though, and threw her out of the reach of the explosion.

Tup and Rex skidded to Ahsoka's side at nearly the same time to help her to her feet. They all looked back on the carnage together. The enemies were destroyed, whatever remained of the harvesters was burning, but there was no trace of Gamma.

* * *

At the _Twilight_'s distance, the fleet was barely visible, practically hidden in star-speckled space. The welcome sight of nearing V-19 Torrent starfighters gave Ahsoka the smallest moment of reprieve as the Republic pilots opened fire on the mass of vulture droids tailing her. Ahsoka's main focus was to continue right for the fleet, but persistent Separatist droids chased her along evasive paths.

An orange hand shot from the steering controls to hit two buttons on the console, opening up a comm with the cabin that served as the ship's tiny medbay. "Rex, how's he doing?"

"_Not good, kid. We need to get him to the fleet now!"_

* * *

Ahsoka gave a cry that came out more like an indignant scream. Rex pulled her along by her arm.

"Others will be here soon. We need to _move_. Fuse, lead— double time!" A line of four troopers and one Jedi ran through the flowers into a new field of blue stalks stretching well above their heads. The thick crops brutally betrayed their avenue of escape.

They ran through several more fields until they came across a simple wooden fence separating them from a local's property, occupied by many buildings in various states of upkeep. The fields seemed to end at this property, beyond which they saw a wide road leading to a cozy, walled town in the distance.

Fuse easily hopped the fence to lead the group to the closest building, a wooden barn that looked like it could fall to the elements at any moment. Some planks along the outside were completely missing, others were rotting along the ground, and part of the angled roof was caved in. The wide back door hung halfway off its hinges, letting the group silently slip in. Inside, signs of disuse were obvious from the vacant animal stalls along one wall to the wooden boards lying scattered about the floor, and the cobwebs patched along the ceiling.

Rex watched from the door for any enemy activity while the other soldiers dug through the bag for their civvies. To their dismay, the clothes were still damp.

"We can dry them out over a fire," Ahsoka suggested softly, only to be met with doubtful stares. "Well, every other building in town has a fire going... probably for breakfast. The Seppies won't know the difference."

"The farmer might," grunted Rex.

Nurv had already started collecting fallen planks inside the barn, tossing them in a pile under the gaping hole in the ceiling. "I figure anyone who actually has the balls to stand up to the clankers gets shot, so our farmer is either a coward or dead." Rex conceded to his soldier's point.

Fuse started the fire while Tup improvised a wooden frame to hang their clothes over. The smell of burning processed wood made Ahsoka crinkle her nose until the smoke finally found its way through the ceiling hole. As the group waited for their civvies to dry, Rex laid out a plan.

"Fuse, you and the commander track down what the clankers are building. Don't engage, no matter how much you want to blow it up," he said with a pointed stare that brought a sheepish smile to Fuse's face. "Tup, Nurv and I will question people in the town in rotations; one of us will always be back here pulling guard. This is the last day we have to find something."

Ahsoka watched the door as the clones changed back into their traveling clothes. Once Fuse was ready, the Togruta followed him in the general direction most townspeople had agreed upon for the Separatist building. The further they traveled into the fields away from town, the slower their progress became as they often had to avoid Separatist droids. Despite the earlier attack on the harvesters, none of the droids seemed to be taking extra precautions; they made their way obliviously through the rows of crops, right past Ahsoka and Fuse's hiding spots.

Once the two were well out of sight of town, an imposing structure began rising from the tall fields. The Separatist bustle around it grew more chaotic. Not too far from the structure stood a small orchard which gave Ahsoka and Fuse perfect cover from which to watch.

The fields immediately around the building had been completely demolished into nearly flat land, making the Separatist structure seem much more intimidating. It was more bulky than it was tall, with something that resembled a smokestack already in place on the roof.

"It makes me think of a factory. Like the one from Geonosis," Ahsoka finally said after minutes of silence.

"You think they're building a droid factory all the way out here?" Fuse responded, his voice hitting a strained pitch. Ahsoka bit her lip in concentration.

"Maybe not a factory for droids. It has to have something to do with them harvesting the fields."

"So like Nurv said... they've picked up farming?" Fuse said with the faintest grin. "They _do_ have organics working with them... gotta feed 'em somehow."

"No, they have enough planets in their confederacy that they can feed and supply their leaders. There's gotta be something unique to this planet..." A squad of battle droids marched past their orchard, making the two scale back further into the tree rows in an attempt to hide behind thin trunks. A minute later, Ahsoka was the first to chance a peek at the factory again.

"Is that a T-series tactical droid out there?" she whispered to her soldier. Fuse leaned around the tree to squint at the factory. There, at the base, was a blocky droid with a flat head; regular battle droids hurried in whichever direction the tactical droid pointed.

Fuse rubbed the stubble on his chin. "So there's the second-in-command. His puppeteer is either leading the force to the capital or not even on the planet, considering the Seppies are a special kind of coward." Ahsoka pulled her lightsaber from her belt.

"Wh-what do you think you're about to do, Commander?" Fuse asked. "We don't have the manpower to engage _anything_ here... put that away; you're scaring me, sir." His hand absently rubbed his burn scar.

"All we need is that droid's head to extract any information. I can get that."

"I don't doubt it, sir," Fuse said evenly before dropping a staying hand onto her lightsaber hilt. "But if the clankers discover their leader's been decapitated, they'll assume it was an attack by the locals. And the Seppies will respond. Brutally."

With a huff, Ahsoka stowed her lightsaber. "I can't just sit back and do nothing!"

"Those are our orders, though, sir," said Fuse. He nodded further into the grove. "Let's get back."

They returned to the barn as the horizon was just barely starting to darken to find Nurv scavenging broken wooden planks into a large bonfire pile. It already stood about a meter tall.

"Tryna light a beacon and let every clanker on the planet know where we are?" Fuse asked after one look at the thing. Nurv shrugged.

"It's not gonna stay too warm in here tonight without it."

Fuse began grabbing the topmost planks and tossing them back into the corner. "Heating this place is one thing. Burning down the barn entirely is another. Trust me on this." Ahsoka paid little attention to their mild argument as Nurv kept trying to replace the wood that Fuse chucked, but in the end the demolitions expert won out and reduced the bonfire pile by more than half. The Togruta instead watched the entrance barely covered by the hanging door for any signs of the rest of the team.

Ahsoka let them be as Nuv struggled with lighting their small fire. He bustled out into the adjacent field, soon returning with an armful of two uprooted flower bushes.

"Your survival skills are extraordinary," Fuse intoned, watching his brother tear apart the plants and stuff them into the middle of his wooden creation. Even after adding this extra fuel, Nurv fumbled with kindling a flame until the demolitions expert stepped in to do it properly. Seconds later, the fire caught.

As time and the darkening sky dragged on, Ahsoka's hand found its way to her comlink. Her attitude sank with the communal mood, which she could feel falling rapidly into irritation. The two clones sat watching the fire, muttering between themselves about the mission, this planet, their lack of food, and their blossoming headaches. When Ahsoka had been completely new to her command position, she tended to stop any and all grumbling she overheard, but she learned over her time with the 501st that it was best to allow her soldiers room to vent.

Soon, however, it grew worse than venting. The feeling of something close to spite wafting from them made Ahsoka turn around to observe them. An off-color comment from Nurv caused Fuse to stand up and push his brother to the ground, resulting in a brawl. She felt their anger spike. The two tussled on the ground, deaf to Ahsoka's orders to stand down. She separated them with the Force once she felt an underlining twinge of bloodlust seep into their rage, and almost immediately they both turned their venomous intentions on her. They were unable to move, bound tightly by invisible restraints, so they just glared at her with unnatural, black eyes.

* * *

Tup hailed the fleet once again, urging them to have a medical team on standby in the hangar.

Ahsoka turned the ship at a sharp enough angle to make her stomach feel like it dropped past her feet; her copilot didn't seem to have an easier time with it.

A transmission came from Rex in the back of the ship. _"Are you _trying_ to kill us?"_

"I'm trying to save us!" cried the padawan before executing another tight turn. More laser fire overshot them as Ahsoka muttered that the V-19s could be doing a better job.

* * *

Ahsoka rubbed her temples placatingly, sitting near the fire. The two soldiers were easy to subdue when her Force persuasion overpowered their already susceptible minds and dropped them into unconsciousness. It was not something she wanted to do, but she had never sensed such a savage tenacity to fight one another from clones before. Ahsoka dragged them to opposite sides of the fire as a precaution in case they were still black-eyed when they woke up.

They were out nearly ten minutes before Rex entered the barn. He dropped the same waterproof bag near Fuse while eyeing both soldiers suspiciously. "What—"

"Don't ask," sighed Ahsoka. Rex seemed content with that answer by his shrug.

"C'mere, I wanna show you something," he said as he headed back for the barn door, an inclusive wave of his arm inviting her to follow. Ahsoka let a worried expression fall on the sleeping soldiers.

"They're fine; we'll be right outside," Rex assured her. He led her out and around the side of the barn facing the city. Then he pointed up.

Ahsoka had seen many worlds in her short lifetime, with memorable idiosyncrasies to each, but she had never seen a dancing sky before. And she gasped. Green lights hung like a veil in the nearly dark sky, undulating as if blown by an ethereal wind. The bottom of the light-veil seemed distinct enough to be solid to the touch; the top of it bled into amorphous colors. Reds and purples tinted the upper atmosphere in a soft glow.

"It's beautiful," were the only words exchanged. A chilly breeze brought the song of nocturnal insects to ward off the silence as the two stood there watching the aurora dance its way across the heavens.

Maybe five minutes later or even a half hour later, they returned to the barn where the fire's dying light reassured them nothing had changed. Rex scavenged for more fallen planks while Ahsoka searched through the bag of food he brought back. She pulled out two food packs for the both of them as Rex tossed a couple small boards onto the fire.

"Where's Tup?"

Rex winced at the growing bonfire. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Er... Tup. Right. The town was celebrating the Night Lights and he wanted to stay to check it out. He'll be back soon." The captain gave a quick shake of his head. "Is it... stuffy in here to you?" he mumbled. Rex shed his traveling cloak on the ground and rubbed his temples.

"Feeling okay?" Ahsoka asked. Even though she hadn't been given much training as a healer, Ahsoka knew enough now to banish a headache. She left the food packs on the floor and neared him, ducking slightly to get a look at his bowed face.

Rex lifted his head just in time for Ahsoka to see his irises swell black.

Everything about her approach immediately turned gentle; even her tone was cautious as she whispered, "Rex? Are you... how do you feel?" But unlike the other clones, Ahsoka sensed no hostility from him. He didn't reek of anger or vexation, but as he leaned into an aggressive stance, Ahsoka felt a trace of frustration and desire. He stared at her with those black eyes.

"...Rex?"

His hands surged forward to grab her shoulders; with two steps he had Ahsoka up against the wall, pinning her with his hips while his hands trailed down her arms. Despite the sense of urgency she felt rolling off him, Rex was gentle in his touch as he moved her wrists up above her montrals and held them there with one hand. His other hand slid down one montral and its corresponding lek. Ahsoka gasped both at his touch and at the realization that he had leaned down to slide his lips across her neck. When she felt Rex grab hold of her lek, her breath caught; it came out in a noiseless shudder once his lips found their way to her lek and kissed it. Her knees buckled; his hips kept her in place.

Ahsoka couldn't process everything at once. The familiarity with which he explored her body was both surprising and enticing. The feelings he elicited seemed both foreign and natural, and in that moment a thought flashed through her barely-functioning brain that she wanted to continue experiencing this.

Until, that is, Rex's hand snaked around to the small of her back. One caress from him there caused such an overwhelming shudder that she immediately reacted in self defense: she withdrew into the Force and let it shove Rex halfway across the barn, skidding along the floor. Ahsoka slid down the wall to the ground, catching her breath.

The logical side of Ahsoka outweighed her curious imagination which only wanted to crawl over there and see how well he could navigate a Togrutan body. Just as she had with Nurv and Fuse, she reached out into Rex's mind and persuaded him to slip into unconsciousness. Unlike the other two, however, she let Rex remain where he was in the middle of the barn floor.

Twenty minutes or so later, Tup walked in wearing a fat necklace of flowers, the only burst of color on him. He found three other clones sleeping almost randomly about the floor and his commander sitting on the ground with her hands firmly clamped to her temples.

Ahsoka looked somewhat hopeful when she laid eyes on the trooper and let her hands drop to her lap. "Find anything good?" She took in his festive necklace with wearied humor.

"Yes, sir. Friendly people! Everyone was wearing one of these. Their flowers are like a planetary symbol. They said they burn them like incense and it alters their moods." He cracked a grin. "Weird, huh, commander?"

Ahsoka's eyes widened. "Which flowers?" she asked hastily.

"Just the bush ones they grow in the fields," he replied, tossing his head in the direction of the crops right outside the fence. Immediately, Ahsoka reached out her hand toward the fire and clenched it into a fist; the flames extinguished in an irritated hiss of smoke.

"That's a new trick..."

* * *

**A.N. Bwahaha.**


	14. Her overstep

Her overstep

* * *

Two V-19s broke away from the fight in an attempt to escort the _Twilight_ to the fleet. They succeeded for about half a minute until the V-19 on their starboard side exploded under enemy fire. The _Twilight_ and the remaining starfighter veered in opposite directions: the former continued to the fleet in a roundabout way while the latter sped back into the fray.

After two more grazing shots shook the _Twilight_, Tup turned his terrified gaze on his commander. "Sir, I'm never volunteering for one of your missions ever again!"

"You're fine!" Ahsoka growled, watching more lasers shoot past their view screen. "_We're_ fine. Everything's fine! It's under control."

* * *

The Togruta roused Nurv first, Rex's glow rod in hand to confirm the color of his eyes. Ahsoka breathed a sigh of relief to see they were back to normal before helping him sit up against the barn wall. She gave him time to hold his head and clear out any residual fog.

"I need to hear what you found in town," she told both him and Tup.

The latter pointed to their captain on the ground, only visible because he lay in the slivers of auroral light shining in through the sizable gaps in the askew doorway.

Ahsoka waved him off. "Just... let him sleep for now."

"Why... why was I fighting Fuse?" muttered Nurv. He ran a hand through his mohawk slowly, looking from his commander to Tup.

"You remember? Everything?" Ahsoka asked with widening eyes. Nurv merely nodded, his face filled with regret. The padawan restrained herself from glancing at Rex, instead focusing on the two clones nearest her. "Tell me what you found out in town."

Tup explained how the Trulalians took the art of theater so seriously that they would burn mood-enhancing flowers like incense before all performances to help get into character. Nurv couldn't resist joking that it probably wasn't _all_ they used it for, but one chiding glare from his commander shut him up. Nurv made amends by volunteering the information he uncovered. The townspeople he talked to noticed how the Separatists seemed to be harvesting all the flower fields around them.

In the silence that followed, the three became aware of a distant rumble, a metallic rhythm slowly growing louder. Ahsoka stood to peer through one of the open slats in the wall; the aurora made the landscape as bright as if it basked under the light of a full moon. She observed battle droids marching in perfect rows along the dirt road, heading in the direction of the farmer's property in no apparent hurry.

"A formation of Seppies!" she hissed. The other two soldiers rushed to the wall to peer out while Ahsoka darted further into the barn to wake the others, glow rod securely in hand. Fuse's eyes were back to normal and he responded to her groggily; Rex's eyes were still slightly dilated, and as he slowly focused on her, he raised a hand to touch her face. She immediately smacked it away.

"Tup! I need you to help Captain Rex," she called in as loud a voice as she dared. She let the soldier hasten over and pull the man to his feet. The ground began to shiver under the footsteps of hundreds of droids. "I want all of you back in your armor. We need to _leave_. I can't believe they found us here."

"Sir, I don't think they're coming for us..." Nurv responded from his lookout spot. "They're headed to town."

Fuse, his shirt already discarded on the ground, locked eyes with his commander. "Maybe... Gamma's det. They might blame the town." Ahsoka slid her hands roughly from her face to her montrals.

"Okay. Let's—"

"We can't help them," Rex muttered, leaning on Tup next to the row of stacked armor. At his commander's pained expression, he added, "We can't engage. It doesn't matter what we think of the orders; all that matters is that we execute. The only thing we can do for these people is to round up help from the fleet... if allowed."

Ahsoka switched places with Nurv, allowing the soldiers to change into their armor while she watched the formation of Separatists march by along the road skirting the farmer's property. Not two minutes later they entered the town and the blaster fire began. Ahsoka fell against the barn wall in a whimper.

Fuse took her arm, pulling gently. "Commander, we have to leave." Their civvies, untouched food packs, and a flower necklace littered the dark floor as the group snuck out.

* * *

A grin fought for dominion on Ahsoka's face. The fleet was flying to meet the _Twilight_ halfway. The two star destroyers flanking her master's flagship outstripped it to fire on the vulture droids. Open hangar doors were a welcome sight, and Ahsoka easily maneuvered her ship, billowing smoke from several locations, through the magnetic shield and into an empty slot in the hangar bay.

The bustle on the hangar floor revolved around the _Twilight_: Kix and Coric were there with stretchers and an entourage, while engineers and mechanics rushed to extinguish all fires.

Wordlessly, Ahsoka and Tup hurried to the back to help Rex.

* * *

Four clones followed by one Jedi fled through the fields outside the farmer's land, veering far from the clanker-occupied road. In the dancing greenish light illuminating the land, they could faintly make out the mountain on which the _Twilight_ hid rising up from the horizon. Tall, red stalks gave way to a field of bush flowers; the pace picked up.

Two fields later they found a small squad of battle droids investigating the destroyed harvesters, handiwork of Gamma's detonator earlier that day.

Rex made the decision to fight his way through. One shot from his deeces spurred the rest of his soldiers to follow his lead; blue blaster fire lit up the field, felling a couple battle droids. The rest of the enemy, none quite smart enough to use the harvester remains as cover, returned red blaster bolts. Ahsoka's lightsabers swung in colorful arcs to send several shots right back to their originators; everything else she deflected into the fields.

Nurv gave a pained cry when there were only about two droids left. Ahsoka broke from her spot in line to slink to his side, finding him down on one knee, firmly pressing a hand to his other outstretched leg. A small trail of blood ran from under his glove down his armor, but more blood probably pooled underneath. Ahsoka worked nimbly to stuff the field medical gauze from his personal medkit into the blaster hole in his armor while the rest of the soldiers dispatched the enemy.

"We'll fix you up on the ship," she promised as Tup and Fuse hoisted his arms over their shoulders.

Nurv limped as quickly as he could, but the group's pace had slowed considerably. It was even worse once they reached the forested mountain because the dense tree cover blocked out all the undulating light from the sky. Rex led the group back toward the ship purely on memory.

They had hidden the _Twilight_ under half a tree's-worth of branches, but when they found it again, all the branches were removed and a band of battle droids and super battle droids were investigating the foreign transport. And unfortunately, the enemy noticed them first.

Red blaster fire ripped through the air before Ahsoka could even unhook her lightsabers. Fuse fell heavily to the ground while Rex and Tup quickly took a knee to return fire. Nurv flailed into the prone position but managed to take aim at the enemy.

Ahsoka leapt forward, concentrating her attacks on the B2s before they could advance on her men. She dodged lasers, sliced off appendages, and caused enough distraction behind enemy lines to make the droids easier to pick off by her team.

When she returned to them, Tup and Rex were helping Nurv up, the wounded clone's helmet lolling about uncontrollably. He had received another injury, this time in the shoulder right between his armor plating. She knelt next to Fuse, a hand on his helmet, and allowed a mournful scowl before turning her attention to the _Twilight_.

A mechanical whine from somewhere overhead startled the small group.

"Vultures!" shouted Rex. He and Tup quickly supported their brother, nearly dragging him to the ship.

"Get him to the medical supplies inside. I'll fly us out!" Ahsoka ordered.

* * *

Anakin Skywalker stood in the medical bay aboard his flagship watching Coric tend to Ahsoka's bruises and scratches. The Jedi only approached his padawan once the medic had finished and left to check on Nurv, who was bandaged up for recovery in a corner medbed, Hardcase at his side.

"So, with all those enemies on your tail, I'm assuming you found something?" Anakin said with half a smirk. "Or you're just that good at making friends." His bad joke didn't even elicit that roll of her eyes which had become her standard reply to his humor anymore.

Instead, Ahsoka squared her shoulders and briefed her master on the evidence they uncovered, from the factory, to the droid harvesters, to the mood-enhancing flowers. She concluded with, "If they were smart, they'd be making these plants into some kind of chemical weapon to use on the clones. But these _are_ the Separatists we're talking about, so in the end we really don't know what they're up to." The Togruta dropped her head. "All that time and still so many unanswered questions."

"How serious a threat are these... flowers?"

"It seems they enhance whatever emotion someone is feeling. It turned annoyed clones homicidal and... ah, the change happened quickly. If this is used on a battlefield where soldiers are already in a killing mood, I don't even want to think of the disaster that could happen."

Anakin had one hand over his chin in a very Kenobi-esque fashion, intently listening as Ahsoka continued. "I saw the enemy massacre two villages. That alone should push the Council to intervene on this planet. We shouldn't _need_ any other reason than saving these people from remorseless droids!"

"If it makes you feel better, it was the Supreme Chancellor that told us to not intervene before because we're alone in this sector. But I'll contact the Council with this new information," he told her definitively. "You go see Rex."

Ahsoka blinked. "Wh...what? Why?" She hugged her arms in a rather self-conscious way, avoiding her master's stare.

"Sworn statements? We still do those, you know."

Ahsoka found Rex sitting in his cabin office comparing two datapads. He stiffened considerably at her entrance but spared her the slightest nod before returning to his work. She picked up an unused datapad from the corner of his desk near his discarded helmet, sank into the only free chair on the opposite side of his desk, and began typing on the screen.

Sworn statements were personal accounts from the battlefield which the GAR wanted completed in the presence of the highest ranking soldier of the mission. The GAR used to require statements written whenever clones were lost, but due to the outstanding frequency of casualties, the GAR ceased enforcing this standard. However, in his effort to show he abided by the rules from time to time, Anakin had his battalion adhere to the sworn statement custom.

It took Ahsoka the better part of half an hour to write three statements detailing how Longshot, Gamma and Fuse died. Finally, she looked up at Rex. Even just glancing at him, she could easily remember the feeling of his hands running down her arms, her lek, her back...

A quick inhale cleansed her mind of that line of thinking.

"Nurv... when he woke up in the barn, said that he remembered everything," Ahsoka said hesitantly. "He and Fuse both were altered by the Trulalian flowers like... like you were."

Rex glanced up at her, his expression framed in a warning.

"Well, not _just_ like you. They reacted in rage; they got into a fight. They didn't... um..." One hand started nervously stroking a lek; she didn't even stop to think that it was the same lek Rex had so carefully attended to earlier.

A couple of Rex's fingers tapped his desktop impatiently. "Did that end up in your statement, sir?"

"Oh, no! No, no, no," Ahsoka replied quickly, a small smile creasing her lips at the thought of a sworn statement being written about _that_. It was absurd. Observing the captain's clenched jaw, it was obvious he found the thought nowhere near as amusing.

"It was definitely... um, an experience," she continued. "And—"

"Commander, do you know what'll happen if the GAR hears about my conduct planetside?" Rex interrupted. "At best, I'll be transferred to a new unit. At worst, I'll be sent back to Kamino to undergo tests to determine why I'm dysfunctional." A small exhale relieved a fraction of tension from his bearing. "I'm not telling you to _not_ report it, sir. After all, it was a major overstep. But I assure you it'll never happen again."

Ahsoka dropped her lek and scooted her chair close enough for her knees to hit the desk. "Rex, I'm not reporting you. Or any of that." She discarded her datapad among the others scattered across the desk in an attempt to reach over to take one of his hands, but the captain leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms across his chest. He regarded her with the same expression he used when trying to intimidate shinies. Ahsoka remained stretched over the desktop, hand out. "Rex, please..."

There was no way of easing his fears without making it even more awkward for the both of them. It's not like she could say she enjoyed it and that part of her wanted him to try it again.

She finally decided to phrase it as, "This changes nothing." Although that wasn't quite true. There was now a completely different side of him that Ahsoka would always wonder about; unbidden memories would spring up whenever she saw him. And this was the clone she worked with most often.

"Are you done with your reports?" Rex asked after a stretch of silence. It took Ahsoka a moment to find the datapad again on his cluttered desk, but she promptly handed it over for him to type in a code preventing future alterations. Ahsoka set her chin on her folded arms resting on the edge of the desk to study him. He was clearly tired; they all were. But the usual motivation Rex feigned to hide his exhaustion was nowhere to be found. It's like he wasn't even trying. This mission had actually rattled him.

Rex set the datapad down on the desk, sliding his attention back to his own work. "That's all, sir. We're done here."

She didn't move. "Rex... I don't want you to feel uncomfortable around me."

The captain tried to remain focused on his own datapads, but his stiff bearing betrayed his lack of attention. Rex flinched when his commander stood, then again when she started rounding the desk. By the time she reached his chair, Rex was already on his feet and backing away despite her casual gait and the sweet smile adorning her face.

"C-commander... what are you doing?"

"Making us even." Ahsoka smirked because, although confusion and embarrassment dominated his Force signature, there was a growing pulse of curiosity. The Togruta followed him around his desk. Her posture grew increasingly predatory; as Rex retreated toward the door of his office, Ahsoka was all but stalking after him, her lower lip caught between her teeth.

Rex bumped into the wall locker next to the door. "Sir, don't do anything... you'll regret." One of her arms flew to the locker to effectively block him from escaping into the hallway.

"Do you regret what you did?" Ahsoka asked calmly, staring straight into his eyes. Rex kept silent; his clenched jaw was answer enough.

"Then if we both have something to regret, you don't have to be so standoffish, right?" Her grin didn't help soften Rex's tension.

"Commander..."

She lifted onto her tiptoes, closing in on his face while Rex turned away as best he could. The silence suddenly erupted in the sounds of Ahsoka's wrist comlink beeping for attention, causing the Togruta to jump back a meter in one bound. Both sucked in steadying breaths, Ahsoka leaning on her knees and Rex pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand.

"Ahsoka here," she finally answered, turning her back on the captain.

"_Hey, Snips, got a reply from the Council. Is Rex with you?"_

Ahsoka checked over her shoulder, not quite sure the captain wouldn't take the opportunity of an escape. "Uh, yeah, Master. Why?"

"_Bring him to the bridge, too." _

The recorded holographic message of Masters Mace Windu and Yoda was already playing by the time Anakin's next-in-commands scurried onto the bridge. Rex hid in his helmet, but Ahsoka's head, framed by slightly darker montrals, hung unusually low.

"_...sending Masters Ertay and Unduli to intervene on Trulalis. You have orders from the Senate to immediately head to the planet Umbara for a joint attack. The Supreme Chancellor considers this of the utmost importance."_

Ahsoka rubbed her arms, scattering a sudden chill as the hologram faded. She had almost forgotten the injustice planetside once safe in the calm interior of Anakin's flagship. Her lost indignation in light of recent events made her face flush a guilty orange.

Anakin glanced at the two of them, bestowing a nod to each. "Good job down there. Trulalis would've never gotten assistance if it weren't for you. Masters Ertay and Unduli should be here within a standard day with their fleets. But now we're moving on to bigger and better things."

"About time," Rex grunted. "I'm ready to start on mission objectives, sir."

Anakin smirked. "I know you, Rex. You haven't even had a shower yet. For my sake, go conduct personal hygiene. Come back in an hour." He gave his captain's pauldron a friendly slap and laughed at the cloud of pollen that erupted on impact.

Although Rex and Ahsoka left the bridge together, the captain easily outdistanced her on his march back to his cabin. He slowed a pace when he heard that pitiable, "Rex..." His commander appeared at his side.

Ahsoka looked up at him, shoulders burdened with remorse. "I don't want you to be mad at me. Or at yourself." Her arms closed back around herself in order to keep from touching Rex again, making her look even smaller.

The captain gave their corridor a sweeping glance. "Sir, I can push aside personal matters to focus on the mission at hand, but sometimes I just need time to... process things. It's not something you can force."

"My master can rush through any problem just fine..."

"The general's never tried to..." His voice immediately trailed off as a couple soldiers walked too close for comfort on their path down the hall. Once they were a safe distance away, Rex continued. "I... I'm not even about to guess what you were trying to accomplish in my office." The captain turned on his heel and marched on.

Ahsoka followed until they reached his cabin. Rex took one step inside in order to spin about and block her entry with his arm, not unlike how she had blocked his escape earlier.

"You're not using my 'fresher," he stated quickly. Ahsoka's face flushed bright like a beacon in contrast to her considerably darkened lekku.

"I wasn't... even... thinking that." One hand went to her head, rubbing consolingly as she tried her hardest to remember what she _had_ actually been thinking about before. Her bottom lip involuntarily caught between her teeth; a second later Rex averted his visor.

"I just want everything to be normal between us," Ahsoka finally said. "Which means you have to stop calling me by titles all the time."

Rex nodded stiffly. "It will be... kid. Eventually. But right now, we've got more important things to focus on. This Umbara mission is a good thing. I think we need a diversion. Get ready for the brief." The captain retreated into his cabin and the door slid closed between them.

Later, Ahsoka found Tup in the mess hall sharing their adventure with all the clones interested in listening. For the first time since Ahsoka could remember, she sought out an empty table at which to eat. The clones seemed to notice her antisocial mood and didn't bother her— they were having fun bothering one of the uptight new clones with an inverted chevron tattooed on his face.

One trooper eventually braved the approach and sat at her table. Ahsoka looked up from her food to see Hardcase smiling at her.

"Hey, sir," he greeted in his usual friendly demeanor. "I wanted to say thanks for getting Nurv's shebs off that planet. You saved his life, Commander."

Ahsoka forced a smile. "Too bad I can't say the same for everyone who went with me."

"They didn't die in vain," Hardcase said softly. "That's what all we clones want as our fate, eventually, for our deaths to mean something."

Everything about Ahsoka's expression faltered. "Don't talk like that, Hardcase. Not right now."

"You got it, sir!" With a slap to the table, his jovial smile was right back in place. "I'd stay and chat, but we gotta break in the new guys!" He slid out of his seat and returned to the gaggle listening to Tup, leaving Ahsoka to continue picking at her food alone.

* * *

**A.N. I'm not a fan of the Order 66 brain chip. At all.**

**Hope you enjoyed this three-parter! Although I think they're worse off now than before they started. :/ Rexsoka instructions unclear... got Rex stuck in a ceiling fan. **

Also, **Nene,** two things: focus on your schoolwork (:p), and I was going in the direction of Norse berserkers when I thought of Trulalian flowers, lol.


	15. Aftermath

Aftermath

* * *

Ahsoka didn't know how long it had been since she lost track of the days. Her schedule had been unusually fluid after she and Barriss Offee helped break through the Separatists' blockade over Umbara. Following that victory, all the pilots on the fleet were divided into shifts to attack the enemy, but emergencies often called upon off-duty pilots, disrupting schedules yet again. The padawan calculated that the longest she had slept uninterrupted was three hours since the battle started.

It also didn't help that she worried for her troops on the ground ever since her master returned early in a gunship to hop aboard his starfighter bound for Coruscant. The only reason Ahsoka even knew her master left the battlefield was because she happened to be in the hangar when he arrived, irritation bristling. He had just enough time to tell Ahsoka to do what she could for the 501st, now under the leadership of Master Pong Krell, because he had "a bad feeling about this."

Now, though, she and the rest of the fleet could breathe easy after receiving word from Master Kenobi that Umbara had been retaken. The padawan could've sworn the cheer that erupted at his victorious message nearly shook the flagship.

Ahsoka stood in the hangar as the first gunships returned with wounded troopers. Soldiers on standby immediately carted off the critically wounded to a cruiser to be taken to the nearest medical station while taking those with less serious injuries to the medbay where Barriss Offee was already waiting to assist.

More gunships landed. More wounded were divided by severity of injuries; some clones had died just on the ascension from the planet's surface. Their bodies were more or less unceremoniously thrown out into the hangar in the gunships' haste to return for those still clinging to life planetside.

As the hangar bay floor grew increasingly streaked and slippery with blood and the room filled with the stench of death, it finally hit Ahsoka that something was _wrong_. The foreboding weight on her chest she felt since her master's warning, which she had attributed to the intensity of the battles in an attempt to brush it off, came back with a crippling ferocity.

She eventually joined the small group moving the unfortunate corpses out of prime landing spaces and over to the wall to line them up in a more dignified manner. The number of casualties was astounding. Ahsoka paid special attention to the faces of the wounded, cringing when she saw someone she recognized. Nurv was one of the soldiers dragged to the hangar wall, having not survived the flight.

After what seemed like countless gunships, they finally proceeded to ambulatory and uninjured clones. One of those to first descend from these flights was Dogma in binders, escorted by two clones. The only thing that kept Ahsoka from approaching them was a call over her comlink from Admiral Yularen requesting her presence on the bridge.

A small hologram of Anakin waited for her on the communications console, already mid-conversation with the Admiral. It was probably impossible for Anakin to tell over a holocom, but Yularen gave a start at the sight of Ahsoka's clothes stained with human blood.

"Master, how's Coruscant?" Ahsoka asked as his blue light fell on her.

Anakin checked his surroundings before replying, "Pointless. The Admiral tells me the campaign's over, so I won't be rendezvousing with you. I'll wait here for your return. How is it there, Snips?"

"It's..." Her eyes flicked to Yularen, looking similarly downcast at the thought of the aftermath of this planet. "I've never seen a battle this bad before, Master." Even in holographic form, Ahsoka could tell her master's jaw clenched.

"Brief me when you land," he said tersely. The connection flickered out, leaving Yularen and Ahsoka to simultaneously inhale deeply, steeling themselves for the work ahead of them. There were still so many tasks to accomplish before they could land once more in the safe haven of Coruscant.

Ahsoka's next stop was the medbay. It was so crowded that troopers sat lining the walls of the corridor outside, the stench from the hangar bay still clinging to them. Inside, Barriss worked over one trooper, blood streaming down his face in sheets, while Kix and Coric all but ran from one injured clone to another, applying the bare minimum amount of treatment in order to move on to the next. All the medbeds were full, some double occupied, while less-injured soldiers sat against the wall wherever there was space, bleeding, groaning, vomiting.

After about five seconds of standing in one place, Coric passed a handful of bacta patches to her with a gruff order to help. Ahsoka was not the only non-medic helper; many uninjured clones applied the most basic treatment to their brothers, adding to the apparent frenzy.

Ahsoka finally broke free once all the bacta patches were used, her clothes and bracers anointed with new bloodstains. She realized going on a search of the ship for familiar clones would be impractical, so instead she tracked down the one clone she knew she could find.

A knock on the cabin door was quickly granted a snappish, "Come _in_!" Ahsoka stepped in to find the captain's room a complete mess. The wall locker next to the door was tipped over, his helmet was tangled amidst the bunched sheets on his bed, and his desk was clear for the first time in her memory because its former occupants now resided on the floor.

The captain himself paced the room behind his desk like a predator, armor covered in Umbaran dirt and specks of blood. He was positively seething. Irritation, bloodlust, and rage radiated from him strongly enough to make the room thick with his negativity. His emotions were an immediate burden to Ahsoka and it took all the tired resolve she could muster to walk as far as the desk without buckling under the pressure. She leaned on the desktop for support, watching him.

"Rex, what happened down there?"

He leveled his venomous gaze on her. "It'll be in the report," he muttered, still pacing. He glanced back at her occasionally, his eyes slightly softened by all the dark blood she wore. He finally stopped in his tracks to rub a gloved hand down his face.

"What's wrong?"

Everything about him tightened. He revealed a datapad in the other hand. "This entire mission was wrong! It's been an hour since I got back and I'm _still_ waiting for all the casualty reports to come in!" A look of utter contempt flashed across his face before he wound up and hurled the datapad into the opposite wall; the several pieces it shattered into on impact cascaded to the floor to be lost among the desk scatterings.

Ahsoka clapped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide. She had never seen him with so little self control before; she never even imagined it was possible for Rex to be lost to his emotions.

He just stood there, both gloved hands extensively rubbing his face, grumbling, "Fek." When his hands fell, the captain seemed somewhat deflated, but his intense eyes flicked across the cabin as if searching for something else to throw.

The atmosphere in the room began to lighten by degrees until Ahsoka felt like she could stand up straight again. She slowly rounded the desk, watching Rex for any signs of aggression; the padawan wasn't sure exactly what could set him off in his state of mind.

"Sit down," she suggested softly, laying a hand on his pauldron and tugging in the direction of his desk chair, apparently thrown well out of reach of the desk in his earlier tantrum, "or shower, or rest... or something." One sweep of his arm pushed her away.

"I've got too much to do." A beep from the floor drew their attention. Ahsoka picked up a datapad with blinking lights along its spine and handed it to Rex for inspection.

"Casualty report is eighty-five percent in," he grunted. The captain skimmed the messages for another minute before tottering to the desk and leaning on it, head bowed. Guilt overwhelmed his Force signature. Ahsoka neared him, satisfied that he didn't try to shrug away the hand she rested on his shoulder.

"Rex, tell me what happened," she said, her sincerity hardened by that commanding edge.

Silence dragged on. Ahsoka put one arm around the captain's shoulders in the same fashion that he did to all his soldiers when they needed comfort. Another beep punctuated the stillness as the datapad on the desk accumulated more casualty reports.

"What all did General Kenobi tell you?" Rex finally ground out.

"I haven't heard any of his messages. Does it look like I've been on the bridge?" She offered her free, bloodstained hand as proof. Rex's head bowed lower and his shoulders shook with a labored breath.

"Krell's dead."

"I'm sor—"

"We executed him."

Ahsoka pulled away from Rex immediately, wide eyes framed with fearful assumptions. She ended up backing into his desk chair so abruptly she fell into it. The Togruta sat there, her gaze on the captain slowly becoming unfocused until she seemed to be looking at nothing and everything in the room at once.

Ahsoka had not known Master Krell personally, but he was unique enough to spot roaming the halls of the Jedi Temple all the years she lived there. He was easy to overhear with that booming voice of his; all of his advice and instructions to other Jedi— younglings, padawans or masters— seemed to soundly reflect years of careful doctrine study.

Rex turned about to sit on the edge of his desk, looking hardly any better than the state Ahsoka was in. He folded his arms across his chest, finally taking in the confusion and distress on his commander's face. "He was a traitor, kid. He wanted to present Umbara to Dooku."

When Ahsoka didn't reply, Rex tersely explained the mission planetside, his words tainted with bitterness and contempt. Every time he mentioned Krell's name, she felt a spike of anger from him before his emotions settled back into their unusually elevated state. Rex reported how the Besalisk Jedi's orders constantly put the clones in unnecessary danger, and how he deceived two clone forces into fighting each other. Finally, he mentioned Krell's execution, his Force signature betraying his underlying satisfaction at the memory.

Ahsoka hid her face in her hands, her back bent. It took her a moment to muster the strength to ask, "So that's why... Dogma...?"

"Dogma shot him, and now he's being taken back to Kamino to be locked up and tested for Force knows how long," muttered Rex. "All for killing a Jedi." The earlier aggression was seeping back into his voice. "That was going to be me. But even after he pitted us against the 212th, I didn't have the balls to kill a Jedi. Because I'm hardwired not to." A scowl crossed his face. "We're not supposed to turn on our leaders. Did no one suppose a Jedi could turn on _us_ first?" He freed his hands to gesture fiercely. "I had Krell on his _knees_ to be executed as a traitor! Dogma had the courage to do it."

Another beep from the desk drew their attention. Rex picked up the datapad before nodding, his expression grim. "Casualty reports are all in."

Ahsoka looked up warily.

"1,414 dead." Rex dropped the datapad back onto the desk before bowing his head. "Would've been 1,416 if it'd been up to me."

Ahsoka stood and attempted another comforting arm around his shoulders. "You can't blame yourself for wartime casualties."

"I valued blind obedience over common sense and it bit me in the shebs. Almost every single order Krell gave me didn't sit right with me. But I still went along with it... and so many others paid the price."

His commander gently led him to his desk chair for him to sit. Ahsoka intended to claim his spot leaning on the desk, but somehow her arm got caught as he fell into his chair— or maybe he pulled her down— and she wound up sitting sideways on his lap.

After the high stress she lived through since the start of the Umbaran campaign, all Ahsoka could muster was a tired surprise at their situation. Rex seemed to meld with familiarity into his seat, head firmly against the backrest and his eyes shut in a grimace. Ahsoka attempted to make the best of it, despite his armor being far from comfortable, and ended up leaning her side against his torso, her hand on his pauldron. As it was so common these days around Rex, her bottom lip caught between her teeth.

"Is this why I sense so much guilt from you?" Ahsoka finally asked in a low voice. Being so close, anything louder seemed unnecessary.

Rex responded in a similarly quiet tone, voice devoid of any fighting spirit. "I wanted to be considered a good soldier by Krell. He had these condescending preconceptions of clones and I wanted to prove him wrong so bad that I let him throw away my soldiers' lives. Fives... if Fives had been in charge, Umbara would've been... better. He was right about everything." The captain shifted to lean an elbow on his armrest, hand supporting his head, staring off at nothing.

Ahsoka racked her brain for some shred of Jedi insight to share with the captain, but all she thought about was how hopeless he looked at that moment, and how she wanted to hug him in order to make everything better. "You know, I felt terrible after Ryloth," she began hesitantly, "where I lost so many pilots. But everything is a learning experience. And even though I still regret failing those soldiers, nothing I do will bring them back. So to honor their memories, I learned everything I could from that encounter. I know I won't make the same mistake twice."

Rex looked lost in thought, his head leaning on his free hand as it covered his mouth; his other arm rested around Ahsoka's hips. His thumb tapped incessantly against her leg, possibly in time with the speed of his passing thoughts.

"Being a leader is the most difficult job," she pressed on. The more she focused on talking, the less notice she could give to Rex's touch, which, although innocent compared to last time, was eliciting improper ideas and memories. "You had to make decisions that no one else did. You bore the heaviest burdens."

Rex's thumb stilled, giving Ahsoka the slightest moment of peace before he dragged his hand along her leg back to her waist. Her hand clenched into a fist on his pauldron. The captain's gaze was so long his attention didn't even seem to be in their dimension anymore.

A startling beep from Rex's comlink brought him back to the present and the first thing his gaze settled on was Ahsoka on his lap, as if she had gotten there all by herself. He released her, letting her slide along his armor til she found footing on the ground.

"Rex here," he answered, watching Ahsoka lean against his desk to peruse his discarded datapad.

"_Ah, captain,"_ came Admiral Yularen's voice. _"The generals will be board__ing__ to brief the Jedi Council at the top of the hour. They request your presence then." _

"Very good, sir." Both he and Ahsoka checked their chronos to see there was still a half hour to go before the meeting. Rex's hands found his face.

"Fek," he finally muttered. "I get to tell the whole karkin' Council how clones killed one of their own." His entire body bent over his knees as he ran his hands slowly over his head, barring himself from Ahsoka's view. She heard him mumble, "1,414..."

The Togruta wondered how he stayed composed when she felt his excruciating emotions eating away at his spirit. She had never experienced emotions on the scale her soldiers did, and yet she rarely saw them succumb to their feelings— what she was privy to she only saw in the privacy of their barracks or cabins, away from their leadership and especially the Jedi.

"If you'd just been down there with us," Rex continued miserably from behind his hands, "maybe Krell would've never been called in."

Ahsoka hugged her arms in lieu of hugging him. "No one would've let a _commander_ lead one whole leg of the assault. Once my master left, another Master would've replaced him regardless."

"I can't stop thinking that if I'd done _anything_ differently, this mission would've gone better."

"You retook Umbara, Rex," Ahsoka said quickly in an attempt to diffuse his growing emotions. "That was the single best outcome there could be."

The captain let his head flop back against the headrest, eyes closed, posture defeated. "I'm just... tired. So tired of this."

Ahsoka watched him with her hands firmly gripping her arms.

"Apparently," Rex continued, "humans have this custom of burying their dead." Anything further he was about to say was lost to a choked sigh and a quivering jaw. The rest of his features contorted in a wince, soon covered by a gloved hand. Rex took a minute to compose himself before adding wearily, "Maybe... the Separatists took the moral high ground in this war, making machines to be their expendable pawns rather than humans. _Fek_ that's messed up."

Ahsoka finally slid off the desk to approach Rex, stopping between his spread knees to place her hands on either side of his face. He jolted in his seat at the touch, flinging his hand from his face and staring at his commander with wide eyes. She held his gaze.

"I can see this battle was terrible for the 501st, but you made it through. Don't sink into bitterness now." For all her sympathy and her soft touch, a hard glint reflected in Rex's eye.

"How would you feel, kid, if your Jedi were turned against one another?" he asked quietly. The question made her drop her hands.

"I... I don't know. I don't even want to imagine it."

"I can tell you it's kriffin' brutal having your own slaughtered. For being clones. For others thinking their superiority makes you worthless." Rex let his head fall before admitting tiredly, "I shouldn't have requested you stay up here."

"My master wanted me here to lead the pilots," Ahsoka countered quickly. When the captain didn't look up again, she rested one hand on his pauldron.

"He did; after I put in the recommendation. All because of Trulalis." A mirthless laugh slipped out. "I assumed giving us some time apart, focused on different missions, would help us forget what I thought I did wrong. But now looking back..." He swallowed whatever else he was about to say.

Ahsoka kneeled in front of him, her hand slowly sliding from his pauldron to hook under his chin and tilt his face to look at her. "Don't give in to guilt."

She had practically forgotten about Trulalis under the physical and mental strain she had shouldered since the start of the Umbaran campaign, but now that he mentioned it, _everything_ came flooding back. It took all of her discipline to squash the curiosity that flitted around her mind, begging for her to find out what a kiss felt like. Instead, as she saw Rex's face closing the gap through no spurring of her own, Ahsoka wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a comforting hug.

"I'm here for you," she mumbled into his pauldron. "For everyone." The longing sparked on Trulalis slowly dimmed as Ahsoka knew his fragile acquiescence of sympathetic comfort vastly outweighed her curiosity.

They remained like this, Rex's head leaning heavily on her shoulder and Ahsoka gently stroking his head until the captain had to leave for the Council debrief.

The cabin finally stilled with Rex gone; he had taken all his fierce emotions of guilt and most of the heartache with him, leaving the room feeling barren by contrast. Whatever remained belonged to Ahsoka, burying her desire for someone to come along and reassure _her_, too, that things would be fine after this battle. It was challenging trying to tell herself, _There is no emotion, there is peace,_ while working shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of non-Jedi reeling from the betrayal that was Umbara.

Ahsoka remained in the captain's office in an attempt to make it look less like the Zillo beast had just shredded its way through. She righted the wall locker by the door, folded the bedsheets to GAR standard, and organized all the floor litter back on the desk in the tidiest it had ever been by the time Rex came stomping back in.

The first thing he did was fling his helmet against the far wall, right over Ahsoka's montrals. Without any indication he even noticed her standing there, Rex burst into his 'fresher, turned the shower on full blast and stepped in, armor and all, before the door slid closed behind him.

Ahsoka just blinked at the rampage.

Two seconds later, Fives, helmet clipped to his belt, entered the cabin, apparently deciding knocking was superfluous. "Rex—" He paused mid-step, eyeing Ahsoka up and down. "Wow, _you _look karkin' terrible. Didn't the captain just come in here, sir?"

Ahsoka pointed to the 'fresher. "I think you should go in there!" The sound of running water was easily heard through the door.

"Er... I don't swing that way, Commander," the ARC trooper muttered with a definitive shake of his head. "I'll check back later." And he left.

The Togruta's arm dropped to her side. She allowed herself a frustrated huff before reining in all emotion and stepping into the 'fresher. His refresher was no bigger than hers, meaning there was less space outside the shower than in it, and Ahsoka could only stand sideways if she wanted to fit between the shower, the sink, and the toilet.

She took in Rex standing directly under the freezing shower stream, hands against the wall and head bent, before she triggered the off switch. "We're rationing water until we refuel," Ahsoka informed him softly.

The captain shivered inside his armor.

Ahsoka left momentarily to return with a dry bodysuit. As she waited in his cabin for him to change, she tried not to focus on his obvious growing despair. Despair accented with the ever-present guilt which anymore seemed to be the natural mindset of clone troopers. At least now, his emotions were more tempered by fatigue.

Eventually Rex slid out of the 'fresher in only his new bodysuit, dressed to regulation but looking like he'd been hit by a larty. Ahsoka watched him shove his chair closer to the desk and collapse into it, rubbing his face before clawing for the datapads on his desktop. He navigated his own desk haltingly, as if an organized workspace completely bewildered him.

The Togruta draped an arm over the back of his chair. "How'd the debrief go?"

Rex just turned around slowly to stare at her. "Fine? I'm dry, thanks."

"Debriefing the Council, not in your 'fresher!" Ahsoka retorted, giving the back of his head a light slap.

Her laugh for once was not contagious; she felt Rex's exhaustion abbreviate his embarrassment, and his anger spike at her mention of the Council.

"They essentially thanked me for stopping a corrupted Jedi by telling me they wouldn't be investigating the 'disturbing' matter of clones killing General Krell. Like _that_ was the biggest issue to come out of Umbara." Rex returned his darkening gaze back to his datapads. "And these reports everyone's expecting are going _all_ the way up the chain of command to the Supreme Chancellor. No pressure, there."

"You need to rest," Ahsoka said, laying a hand on his shoulder for emphasis.

"I'll rest when I'm dead."

Her nails dug slightly into his shoulder. "Don't ever say that again."

"Noted," he replied, patting her hand.

Eventually she left him in peace long enough to focus on the long task of report writing that was uncomfortably second nature to him anymore. At his insistence that Ahsoka not seek out any other clones during the journey back to Coruscant in order to give them time to recover, the Togruta ended up compensating for all her lost hours of sleep by crashing on Rex's bed for the duration of his work.

When Ahsoka woke, she found Rex sleeping slumped in his desk chair. She breathed a sigh of relief to feel he was finally free of his taxing emotions, sleeping soundly enough that even the nightmares couldn't find him, but a guilty twinge reprimanded her for stealing his bed.

He was heavy, but with the help of the Force Ahsoka moved him into his own bed and tucked him in. She allowed one caress of his face before heading for the door. No doubt she had been expected on the bridge for hours now, but one glance down at herself reminded her she still wore the price of Umbara on her clothes. A foreboding pulse slowly grew in Ahsoka's mind, promising that they would still be reeling from the aftermath of this planet far into the future.

* * *

**A.N. Whelp. Killed off my last OC. :/ Sorry, Nurv. No update this Saturday.**

**I'm 98% sure Fives was my favorite part of this chapter. **


	16. The General lives

The General lives

* * *

It was a rule of nature that if the Jedi knew something important, their clones weren't long in the dark. Most often, it was not because the Jedi shared their knowledge freely, but due to the clones' extensive rumor network. Therefore, word got out among the ranks that a lowlife sniper assassinated General Obi-Wan Kenobi barely an hour after the actual event, hitting morale hard, the 212th harder, and Commander Cody the hardest. The night the Jedi laid Kenobi to rest in their mausoleum, Captain Rex had to carry Cody back from his favorite cantina because the commander embodied every reason why GAR alcohol safety briefs were necessary.

Before Anakin and Ahsoka zipped off to Naboo on the Supreme Chancellor's bodyguard detail days later, they passed Rex a cryptic message saying Kenobi might not be dead. The captain was not about to go running to Cody with that. However, once Rex had word that his chain of command was returning to Coruscant, he managed to trick Cody into standing by in the Senate Office Building hangar for the arrival of the red and white T-6 shuttle.

"Remind me again why we were requested to be present?" Cody grumbled to his brother through their private in-helmet channel as they both stood at parade rest near the wall, a safe distance away from the landing spacecraft. Regardless of their conversation, their visors faced front toward the red Coruscant Guard clones descending the boarding ramp. Chancellor Palpatine exited next, in lackluster conversation with Mace Windu, then the Vice Chancellor, followed by Skywalker and Ahsoka, and finally the familiar face of Obi-Wan Kenobi in very un-Jedi-like clothes.

Rex watched out of the corner of his visor, gauging his brother's reaction to the resurrected general.

Cody slowly removed his helmet to reveal eyes glazed over and a slack jaw before he neared the shuttle in a composed lurch. His helmet wasn't even tucked under his arm in the proper manner, but hung in one hand. The commander paid the Chancellor's procession less mind than they paid an almost haunted-looking trooper stumbling past them.

Rex followed his brother's approach in a more dignified manner to hear Kenobi sigh, "Anakin, you're being positively infantile about this." The three Jedi, walking at a leisurely pace, were easily left behind by the purpose-driven first group, already exiting the hangar.

Anakin coupled a scoff with a roll of his eyes while Ahsoka determinedly outdistanced the masters, her expression the perfect picture of a tormented victim.

Cody stopped in his tracks once the padawan passed him as if afraid to proceed, his uncharacteristic expression still firmly in place.

Obi-Wan waved Anakin away mid-argument to approach his commander, grinning. "You're a sight for sore eyes," the general remarked before throwing his arms around Cody. The clone dropped his helmet, frozen momentarily. Slowly, mechanically, he returned Obi-Wan's gesture.

Anakin, meanwhile, meandered over to Rex and Ahsoka. He crossed his arms, nearly glaring at the scene behind them. "If he thinks this conversation's over, he's got another thing coming."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Master, you've been berating him since we left Naboo. Give Master Obi-Wan a little space!"

"General Skywalker's doing the chiding, sir?" Rex asked, inclining his head towards her. "That's new."

"Don't encourage him."

"General," Cody began, finally finding his voice as they separated and Obi-Wan bent to retrieve his helmet, "the GAR immediately started inquiring for a new Jedi for the 212th once we received word of your... death." A wide-eyed expression still dominated his face, almost fearful that blinking would cause his general to disappear.

Obi-Wan brushed off the helmet before handing it back to Cody. "Quite efficient, aren't they? I hope you found someone decent this time." Despite the humorous lilt to his words, he failed to merit even a chuckle from the yellow-clad commander.

Cody stiffly reattached his helmet. "The Jedi Council stonewalled the GAR's petitions at every opportunity, sir."

"Yes," the general responded with an affectionate nod, "that does sound like the Jedi way."

"Sir, did they know?" Cody asked. Even with the question filtered through his helmet, the emotion in his voice was obvious. "Did the Jedi know you were alive?"

"Some, yes."

"Not all of us," muttered Anakin from Rex's shoulder. Cody's nod pulled his head downward by degrees.

"And I think Cody's now experiencing what I felt when _I _found out," Anakin said with a pointed stare at his old master. Kenobi vented a sigh while one of Ahsoka's hands briefly found her face. Rex instinctively leaned towards his little commander the moment she started turning in his direction.

"He's been like this since before we left for Naboo," she groaned, eye markings bent in annoyance.

Obi-Wan slapped Cody on the back. "Well, what say you to a drink?" Cody found the strength to hold his head high again and the two walked for the hangar exit with a shared determination, their conversation immediately turning mundane as the commander inquired about Kenobi's trip back to Coruscant. Ahsoka and Rex fell in behind them once glances in Anakin's direction assured them he wasn't budging.

"We're not finished, Obi-Wan!" Anakin called after him.

"It can wait, Anakin!" he threw over his shoulder good-naturedly. "There's not a cantina on all of Coruscant large enough for your baggage!"

Obi-Wan and Cody avidly kept to their own conversation as the four left the hangar, made their way to the lift, rode down to the ground floor, and exited the Senate Office Building. Two steps outside, as if of one mind, the 212th leadership separated from Rex and Ahsoka, too engrossed in their own discussion to bestow parting farewells.

Rex couldn't help but grin underneath his helmet. This was the most animated Cody had been since the bad news turned him as close to depressed as Rex ever saw him become. And although the Jedi were usually strict with emotions, the smile that hadn't left General Kenobi's face since reuniting with his commander told Rex he was just as excited.

As Rex and Ahsoka slowly ambled away from the office building, he nudged his commander, a preliminary to his question, "D'you wanna go see the men? They miss you, sir."

Ahsoka checked her chrono. "But it's the weekend. Aren't they all out?"

"Which is why I'm taking you out."

* * *

Sweet hookah smoke rose to blanket the arching ceiling of the Diamondback Nexu cantina, well above even the tallest patron's head. It was one of the smaller cantinas: a single, large room with a prominent bar and many alcove tables tucked along the perimeter. Dim lighting complemented the lazy music barely audible over the noise of conversation. Most of the patrons that afternoon were clones in 501st armor, trying their best to fit at the tables and the bar like civilized sentients, but ending up clattering against each other far too often.

"What, banned from the Fleshy Lek again?" Ahsoka asked Rex as he led her to one particular group of clones at an alcove table near the back of the establishment.

"That'll be the next destination. The food's better here."

A general noise of greeting eclipsed the troopers' unintelligible chatter when Ahsoka slid into the semicircular booth next to Kix, Rex claiming the spot on the edge after removing his helmet. On the other side were Jesse and Fives, often found together ever since Umbara, and Coric. Other soldiers like Appo and Tup visited briefly, but none sat with them. The clones talked and shared stories freely over their meals, though the jokes were less forthcoming these days. Overall, the long stint on Coruscant had done the 501st good, and the beneficial time to relax and recuperate was reflected in the fact that the clones were slowly regaining their capacity to smile.

Those in the booth took this opportunity to fill Ahsoka in on what she had missed because they freely admitted there would be no group cohesion once they wound up at their club. They politely listened to her Naboo story even though her whole time spent guarding Senator Amidala was far from interesting. They were, however, very interested to hear about the recent drama between Generals Skywalker and Kenobi.

"And then he says," Rex said, attempting a straight face, "'There's not a cantina on all of Coruscant large enough for your baggage!'" The rest of the clones erupted in table-slapping laughter.

By the time they exited the cantina and hid from the colder air in their helmets, the soldiers were much more animated. Ahsoka conversed with Fives, following the gaggle wandering in the direction of the Fleshy Lek, when Rex yanked her back by her arm. Fives didn't even question his captain, he just continued on.

"Whoa, littl'un, where do you think you're going?"

"I'm..." A quick double take interrupted her thoughts. "I haven't heard that in forever." She grinned up at Rex though his helmet. "I'm just following the guys."

"You're not old enough still for that club. Come on." He started in the opposite direction from the rest of the 501st.

"Where are we going?"

"Taking you back to the Temple to make sure you're not up to no good."

"Me? I don't know _where_ you'd get an idea like that..."

Rex led her to the nearest landing zone across the street to request a taxi speeder, but at the last minute Ahsoka tugged him along past it, voicing her desire to walk back to the Temple.

"Do you know how long it'll take on foot?"

"What, got plans tonight, _Rexter_?" Her smirk made him shake his head.

They ambled along the streets, their lights just now activating for the evening to be lost amid the constant presence of neon signs and large, holographic advertisements climbing the sides of almost every building. They passed hundreds of pedestrians from a variety of species, all more intent on arriving at their destinations than Ahsoka and Rex. The unique architecture of the distant Jedi Temple was easily visible looming between the gaps of nearer buildings; it stood in stark contrast to its environment just like the Jedi within its walls.

No one else seemed to pay any attention to the spectacular view of the handiwork of thousands. Rex himself appreciated it more when he was on jungle moons or ice planets barren of anything remotely civilized. Glancing at Ahsoka, he found her walking with her hands clutching her arms, also unimpressed by the grand scope of the city-planet.

Every once in awhile, Rex wished he had the same perceptive powers as his Jedi leaders so he could inherently understand another's feelings without having to ask... or even worse— guess. But he recognized her thousand-meter stare; it was identical to the ones worn by brothers dealing with certain losses: too emotionally removed to grieve, yet too close to be unaffected.

So he made an assumption. "How've you been doing since Kadavo?"

Kadavo was a rescue attempt gone wrong; three Jedi and himself tried to reclaim Ahsoka's captured people from slavers. They didn't save many. Although the captured Togrutas weren't from Ahsoka's home planet, they were still her species. Rex painfully understood the challenge of carrying on after the death of his own people. But he also realized that Jedi and clones processed things differently, as exhibited by the spectrum of reactions to General Kenobi's apparent death ranging from the Jedi Order on one end to Commander Cody on the complete opposite.

Ahsoka faked the weakest smile Rex had ever seen. "I'm fine. The war goes on..." The bright lights they passed exposed with lovely hues of greens and purples the frown Ahsoka's expression had settled into.

Rex wanted to say something comforting and inspired, but nothing came to mind. If they weren't in the middle of public, he might've considered taking her into his arms and holding her until she felt like talking. Ever since their time together over Umbara, Rex felt more comfortable around his bold little commander. She might've been rubbing off on him, too, because he noticed bold thoughts of his own creeping into his head more often.

They walked into a more affluent sector with sleeker buildings, subtler advertisements for baser services, and better dressed locals noticing them enough to pass judgmental looks.

"Captain Rex, Ahsoka!" someone called from off to their side, between two competing holoadverts. Obi-Wan Kenobi stood there once more in his familiar Jedi robes, Commander Cody leaning on him, one arm around the general's shoulders. Obi-Wan carried Cody's helmet.

The first thought flashing through Rex's head was _wounded_, but upon approach, he realized they both wore pleasant grins atop flushed complexions.

"Never knew the general here could drink me under the table," Cody practically drawled; his drunken state hadn't impaired the almost abnormal ability for clone telepathy.

"If you two are headed to the Temple, you might want to wait," Obi-Wan advised. "We've received word of another anti-war protest at the front steps not letting anyone pass. It's better to steer clear of it for the time being." Kenobi nodded toward a nearby squat building, saying, "Care to join us for some caf?"

Rex was sold.

The diner Obi-Wan led them to was almost painfully bright compared to the noticeable dusk settling outside despite the countless blinking advertisements and building lights. The Jedi Master helped Cody into a booth where he sprawled sideways, his head against the wall for support. Obi-Wan sat next to him while Rex and Ahsoka slid into the opposite bench. The captain removed his helmet to reveal his awkwardly sympathetic expression; Ahsoka couldn't stop staring at a side of Cody she'd never seen before. Rex had certainly experienced this side of Cody, just never around General Kenobi. He tried not to feel embarrassed on the commander's behalf; the general was taking it all in good humor.

As soon as they were settled, a droid rolled by to collect orders.

"A pint of your best!" Cody called enthusiastically from the corner. The few other customers in the diner reproachfully eyed his outburst, but just as quickly returned to their own meals.

"We've left the bar, my friend," Obi-Wan informed him with a pat to his chestplate before turning to the droid. "Just caf, if you please. And some water for my friend, here." The droid wheeled off half a second after Rex and Ahsoka ordered, making the captain wonder if it really registered them at all. It certainly wasn't programmed for social etiquette.

"If only Anakin was this easy to reconcile with," Obi-Wan said with half a smile toward Cody who appeared to be resting against the wall.

"Why didn't you tell him, Master?" Ahsoka asked.

"Anakin still struggles with attachment." Obi-Wan's reply was automatic as if he'd been waiting for that question. His gaze turned on Ahsoka, that piercing Jedi gaze which made Rex feel he was being excluded from half a conversation.

"We exploited this to feign veracity, but I was partially hoping this would help him learn to let go. To be fair, he's been improving in this area," Kenobi continued as Cody's head lolled slightly. "Ever since he received a padawan. However, if you're not careful, young one, you'll inherit his bad habits before you can break him of them. Anakin may be well trained in the Force, but he still has quite a lot to learn."

The waiter droid rolled back to their table, a tray of glasses balanced precariously on one of its thin, multi-jointed arms. It plopped all the drinks down in front of their respective owners almost too fast for them to clear out of the way, startling the dozing Cody awake.

The commander tried a sip of his water before making such a disgusted face he didn't even resemble a clone anymore. "This is terrible! We're never coming here again," he muttered to Obi-Wan, leaning back against the corner and shielding his eyes from the incessant overheads.

For nearly the next hour, Obi-Wan regaled them with his bounty hunter adventure until their cups were drained— except for Cody's because he refused to touch his water after the first disappointing experience. The Jedi master then made the observation that he should see his commander back to the barracks. His expectant stare fell on Rex, the same stare the captain received when someone of a higher rank was about to volunteer him for some unpleasant detail or another. So Rex took initiative.

"General, I think I'll escort Commander Tano back to the Temple. Er... in case the protestors are still there."

Kenobi's gaze slid from Rex to Ahsoka; his alcohol-induced ruddy cheeks made his expression appear jolly aside from the calculating glint in his eyes. However, he nodded and bid them good evening before dragging an uncoordinated Cody out of the booth.

Rex reattached his helmet two steps outside of the diner. As he and his commander walked along, he noticed Ahsoka return to her cross-armed posture, occasionally rubbing her hands over her leather straps in the evening chill eluded by Rex in his bodysuit. She didn't once look over to him while he scrutinized her forlorn profile.

"Doin' all right, there?"

A shrug. "Just thinking about what Master Kenobi said," she replied in barely a loud enough voice to compete with Coruscant's ambient noise. "Sometimes I let Jedi doctrine study fall by the wayside because of the war. Lately I've focused too much on being a better warrior."

Even though this didn't sound like a terrible confession to Rex, he noticed how hesitantly she shared it.

"I saw the way Anakin pursued who we thought was Master Kenobi's killer... I don't think I'd react any differently if something happened to Anakin." She looked up at him, eyes heavy with regret. "I think I have a problem with attachment, too."

"I've never understood why attachment is a bad thing," Rex said in an attempt to erase the pout on her face. "Seems to me it'd give you something more important to fight for." When Ahsoka's expression didn't change, the captain added, "If you ever need to vent, though, I'm here." Force knows she earned an unlimited audience from him after Umbara.

Finally he received a glance from her coupled with a faint grin. "Thanks, Rex. I might take you up on that some time."

* * *

The couple dozen of protestors remaining at the bottom of the Temple steps were slowly dissipating, having tired of shouting at the masked Temple Guards standing silent sentinels not far above their heads. Ahsoka pulled Rex away from the main path leading to the stone steps in an attempt to avoid a scene, and instead led him around to the side of the Temple, a lengthy detour. Two ratty-looking humans noticed them and redirected their protest spiel at them, beginning to follow.

Rex and Ahsoka ignored the inflammatory criticism, attempting to keep a fast pace as they skirted the unwelcome attention, but they couldn't evade them completely. When the protestors got within arms reach, Rex spun about, towering over them at full height, and dropped his voice to a threatening pitch to bark, "_Move along._" Between the clone captain and the two Temple Guards silently watching from the Temple steps, the outnumbered humans slunk away, grumbling.

Ahsoka led Rex onward to a side door to the Temple he had never seen before. "I don't know why protestors are showing up more often," she mumbled, half to herself. "Is the war really getting that bad?"

Rex mustered a shrug. "People with too much time on their hands usually gripe about one thing or another."

From this new entrance, Rex was utterly lost in the Temple and dutifully followed at Ahsoka's heels down dim passages, constantly glancing around for anything recognizable.

"Although, lately," he continued, overcompensating for Ahsoka's unusual taciturnity, "the protestors have shifted their stance. Instead of outright anti-war, they're somewhat clone-sympathetic. An interesting argument... we're bred to fight a war we had nothing to do with while the instigators stay safely on Coruscant." Ahsoka's head snapping around made him bite his tongue. He backtracked. "But it's dangerous to think like that. They may whisk me away to Kamino for one of those exclusive extended stays."

His humor must not have filtered through his helmet because Ahsoka immediately swiveled the rest of her body to face him, a hand falling on his pauldron. "Rex, don't." Her white eye markings were harsher than her voice. "I know I'd have a tough time losing my master because I've actually thought about it before. I've never once imagined losing you. I—"

"Easy, sir," Rex broke in, his mouth dry. His tone conveyed the warnings flashing through his head: Temple Guards, Jedi Masters, anyone who could walk in on them and misconstrue everything.

Ahsoka seemed just as proficient as Cody at reading his mind anymore. She forced a smile before leading him further down dim, labyrinthine corridors, up several levels of stairs and into more familiar territory. They kept silence between them until they reached her door.

Ahsoka invited him into her room as she crossed the doorway, and although her intentions were probably innocent, he assumed she hadn't thought this all the way through. Luckily for his job and his rank, the protocol drilled into his head from his earliest years on Kamino was so imbedded in his system, it overrode all compulsion in moments like these when his mind seemed to stop. A gloved hand pressed against the wall next to her door, elbow locked, a deterrent to entry.

"I... should get going. Cody'll need looking after."

There was the lip bite she really needed to stop doing around him.

Without warning, Ahsoka grabbed him by the helmet and pulled him down into a casual headbutt. If it hadn't been for his blessed bucket, the gesture might've proceeded into a kiss, at least on Rex's part. If it were entirely up to Rex, it would've progressed into a scenario he envisioned often enough to become a habit. Thankfully, within his helmet Rex could mute his public channel and successfully conceal his flustered breathing— an involuntary response to involuntary, familiar fantasies.

The captain pulled away, composing himself enough to unmute his helmet and murmur, "I'll see you around, 'Soka."

Her eyes wrenched his heart. They seemed to drown in longing, framed by white markings slanted in disappointment. But, in Rex's current state, it was possible he was merely projecting his own feelings into her ambiguous emotions.

Although his legs started out feeling like they were frozen in carbonite, walking away from her room grew easier with distance. Regulation still loomed in the back of his mind not unlike the faceless Temple Guards, eclipsing his recent thoughts involving his commander. This time. Unfortunately for the captain, regulation was becoming easier and easier to forget in Ahsoka's presence. Out of her presence, he usually remembered the sensation of her hips against his when he fondly kept himself company during particularly lonely nights. Tonight would probably turn out to be his loneliest night yet.

This was quickly becoming more dangerous than any opinion on the morality of the war.

* * *

**A.N.** **CodyxObi is my brotp.**

**So, I'm in the market for a beta, as it were, but everyone I've mailed hasn't responded. :( Anyone know a strict TCW beta? Cuz clearly my approach isn't working.**


	17. Secrets

Secrets

* * *

The morning sun threw Ahsoka's shadow in front of her with every soaring Temple window she passed. She was headed for the Jedi archives, two female younglings at her heels, peppering her with questions about their new lightsabers. Ever since returning from the mission that started out as a normal Gathering on Ilum but ended in a galaxy-faring adventure, the younglings had been Ahsoka's constant companions whenever they were not training. Katooni, a Tholothian, and Ganodi, a Rodian, asked her when they would start learning to fight like Ahsoka, how long it took her to learn her katas, and when they could get a shoto, too.

Ahsoka laughed. "Patience, girls. Training takes years, and I'm still learning myself." This was not what they wanted to hear, so they tailored their questions to discover how to learn skills _faster_.

The three were meters from the archive doors when a filtered _"Hey!"_ sounded from behind. They all swung around to see a clone trooper approaching at a fast clip, removing his helmet and stowing it on his belt in one refined motion. The revealed bald head and pronounced smirk brought a grin to Ahsoka's face.

"Rex! What are you doing here?" The two younglings dove out of the way in time for Ahsoka and Rex to fold into an eager hug. His answer that he was there at General Skywalker's request was muffled by her lek. She tried to ignore the shivers running from her lek down her spine, spurring her heartbeat and making her lower lip momentarily catch between her teeth again. The younglings exchanged glances, completely forgotten.

"It's been awhile. I haven't seen you since Onderon," she said as they separated.

"Heard you had a run-in with some pirates and Grievous. Figures you have all the fun without me." The chirp of his comlink shattered their moment, leaving Rex to growl, "Karkin' always..." They parted, Ahsoka back to the younglings drowning in curiosity, Rex to the confines of his helmet.

He held his wristcom threateningly close to his vents, but his attention seemed locked on Ahsoka. "We'll have to catch up soon, sir."

"Comm me," the padawan ordered with a smile before Rex answered his insistent communicator, heading back the way he had come.

Ahsoka finally turned back to the two girls watching wide-eyed. "Well, on to the archives?"

"Who was _he_?" Katooni asked with a growing smile as both girls rushed to keep up with Ahsoka's suddenly energized pace.

* * *

Ahsoka sat searching the database at one of the long tables cutting through the middle of the vaulted archive hall, which were perpendicular to the rows of holobook shelves, interspersed with pedestals displaying Jedi busts at regular intervals, lining the walls. The younglings sat across from her, spending more time leaning over the table to get her attention than actually focusing on their own work.

At least twice during Ahsoka's research, Master Jocasta Nu went out of her way to shush the increasing volume of Katooni and Ganodi's questions. The girls adopted such an ardent curiosity about Rex that nothing except answers from Ahsoka satisfied them.

"Girls, if you can't behave, Master Nu will find something for you to do," the Togruta whispered, glad the irony of her threat was lost on them. The younglings thankfully viewed Ahsoka as one step away from a Master, not one step above themselves.

As they slowly returned to their own reading material, Ahsoka glanced up to see a familiar Mirialan walking determinedly out from between two nearby holobook shelves.

Ahsoka's face lit up and she whispered, "Psst! Barriss!" loud enough for the younglings and several other nearby Jedi learners to look her way. Barriss seemed the least interested out of all of the onlookers, sparing a nod that could have been bestowed on any passing acquaintance from the Temple. She continued on without stopping to talk, or even utter a verbal response at all, leaving Ahsoka to quizzically watch her retreating form.

Ahsoka's wristcom exploding with the chirps of an incoming transmission brought her mind out of its musings and everyone else's irritated attention back on her. She quickly answered it, sinking low in her seat to avoid Jocasta Nu's sweeping gaze.

"_Hey, 'Soka,"_ came Rex's voice. _"Any idea where the general is? I can't find him, and he's not answering his com." _

Ahsoka sprung from her chair with the enthusiasm of a youngling, offered quick apologies to the girls for deserting them, and hurried through the archives for the exit.

* * *

At least she had paid enough attention as her master prattled on earlier to remember him sighing about his duties that day in the Senate building. Something about meeting with the Chancellor and watching a Senate debate. And Ahsoka was aware that if Anakin's duties called him to the political district, he wouldn't leave without visiting Senator Amidala.

"You didn't have to come along, 'Soka," Rex said after they found Amidala's office empty. "Didn't mean to pull you away from your duties."

Ahsoka was already blazing a trail down the elegant hallway. "No, really, I needed a reason to get out of the Temple." Knowing the Senate had already adjourned for the day, she decided to stop by Amidala's apartment, hoping Padmé had an idea where Anakin had disappeared to. Again.

* * *

Inside the Senate Apartment Complex, Ahsoka practically flew down the various corridors until Amidala's apartment was in view at the end of the hall. Rex carried his helmet under one arm, listening to her prattle on nostalgically about the last time they attempted to trail her master but ended up arrested.

The senator's doors opened for C-3PO to totter out, saying, "Yes, of course, mistress. Right away!" Ahsoka spied a couple on one of the plush couches inside the apartment and her eyes widened. Immediately, she grabbed Rex's pauldron and yanked him against the wall, out of sight of the closing door gap.

"Ah, Padawan Ta—"

Ahsoka quickly shushed the protocol droid and waved him along his way. She focused her attention on the automatic doors, reaching out one hand; their closure stalled with about an inch gap left. Giving the same gesture for Rex to follow as she had on numerous past battlefields, Ahsoka stalked over to the doors and peered through low enough to leave room for Rex to lean over her to see for himself.

There, on the couch in a dark room, sat Anakin and Padmé, comfortably leaning against one another, kissing.

Ahsoka bumped into Rex so hard in her rush to back away from the doors that she nearly knocked him off his feet. Her hands were clapped over her mouth, her eyes completely round. Her captain remained a little more composed, motioning for them to leave.

"If you keep the doors open much longer, it'll start an alarm," he whispered. Not a second later, an annoying beeping sound penetrated the atmosphere, breaking Ahsoka's concentration. The doors slid closed and the alarm stopped.

One glance was all that passed between the two before they took off sprinting down the hall. Upon rounding a corner, Ahsoka pulled him into the first doorway on the right, a small cleaning closet, the majority of floor space already claimed by two round maintenance droids standing side-by-side. The door sighed closed behind them and Ahsoka hit the locking mechanism on the closet wall. The tiny room was dark but for the blinking green lights of droids in standby mode.

They both took a moment to catch their breath, sprawled over the domes of the droids, too tall to sit on, too angled to lean against comfortably. They listened for footsteps, but none came.

"Do you think Senator Amidala knows Jedi aren't supposed to...?" Ahsoka whispered finally. Her hands had found their way to her mouth again at the scandal of it all. Rex clipped his helmet on his belt and tried to find a more accommodating way to half-straddle the cleaning machine since there was barely floor space enough to stand normally. Already his knees knocked against hers.

"Yeah, I'd wager she does," he responded flatly.

"Do you think they're _dating_?"

"I don't know, but they seemed pretty comfortable with one another back there."

Ahsoka reflected on all the times she was together with her master and Padmé, wondering how she had never picked up on any feelings from Anakin. Even though Ahsoka wasn't by any means a master yet, she was _perceptive_. And he had hidden things so expertly she never even suspected. "Did you know about this?!"

"_No_. And I wish I still didn't!"

"Should... should we tell someone?"

Anakin was usually at odds with the Jedi Council when it was in his best interest not to be, so Ahsoka couldn't even imagine the ramifications if others found out her master's secret. But at the same time, he was breaking one of the most basic tenets of the Order.

"No! We're keeping this to ourselves."

Ahsoka forced her feet onto the tiny remaining floor space to keep from sliding down the maintenance droid. She looked over at Rex, well within arm's reach of her, and could just barely make out his scowl. Her white eye markings nearly melded into one uncomprehending line. "Why are you so adamant about this?"

"Because it's the general's business. It's not right for us to tell anyone else what he does privately." Rex tried to assume a steadfast position with his arms folded across his chest, but he merely ended up slipping along the side of the droid before he flung his hands along the wall for balance.

Footsteps right outside the door kept them silent a minute longer, but when they figured the coast was clear, Ahsoka asked, "Have _you_ ever kissed anyone, Rex?"

"I don't see what that has to do with anything," the captain muttered.

"Well _I_ have," she said simply. "Don't know why you're getting all self-conscious when the other soldiers do nothing but brag about it."

Halfway through her criticism, Rex was already sputtering, "Wh-_what_? You have? Who? Do I know him?" He forced himself back in place, his eyes locked on her.

"You've met him... Lux Bonteri. The new senator of Onderon," Ahsoka replied, the slightest, haughty lift to her chin. She would've crossed her arms herself if she wouldn't have slid down to the floor.

"That pipsqueak? What do you see in him? I don't think he's even hit puberty yet. _I'm_ probably older than he is! And—"

"All right, all right," she interrupted sharply. "Now your turn. Share." Ahsoka took a breath, steeling herself for the worst. How bad could it really be? He had spent the majority of his life on Kamino, then practically the rest of it at war.

Rex rolled his eyes. "Fine. Sesili, one of the Twi'lek regulars at the clubs. I have a thing for Twi'leks," he said with a one-shouldered shrug.

"Really?" Ahsoka said, tone darkening. Her eye markings lowered. "I never expected you'd go for the easy club types."

"I wouldn't call her easy," retorted Rex with a laugh. "But she was there for me... after Umbara."

Ahsoka felt her gut wrench so suddenly it almost made her sick. "_I_ was there for you after Umbara!" In their tiny confines, her exclamation created a threatening echo. "Maybe if you weren't running off to get _wasted_ with the rest of the guys at every opportunity, you would've realized that!" She twisted around to punch the locking mechanism, but Rex leaned across the closet and grabbed her fist.

"Listen, _listen_," he hissed. When she turned to face him, his other hand covered her mouth, and all that filled the room was her aggravated breathing.

More footsteps passed outside, followed by a metallic clanking and, "Master Anakin! Did you see Padawan Tano? She was waiting outside Senator Amidala's door, sir."

Any pain Ahsoka felt in her stomach disappeared now that her stomach had dropped from her body completely. Absolutely no sound came from the closet as both occupants held their breath.

"No, I didn't, Threepio. When was she here?"

"Ten minutes, twenty-eight seconds ago, sir. Captain Rex was with her." Hurried footsteps this time as Anakin ran off.

Rex moved his hand from her mouth to the wall behind her, leaning awkwardly over both her and the cleaning droid. They listened for another minute in silence, the captain hovering inches above Ahsoka's face, both their attention fixed expectantly on the closet door. Finally, when the fearful anticipation had dissipated and Rex's gaze slid back to his commander, he asked in a low voice, "So, where were we?"

Her eyes immediately captured a hard glint in the dim light. "I was telling you that I was there after Umbara, when you were off with Sheeli."

"Sesili." The amused smirk Rex usually wore around his commander was cemented in place.

"I don't care," she muttered. Ahsoka tore her fist out of his grasp and folded her arms across her chest, attempting to brace her leg against the door in an effort to prevent herself slipping.

One eye marking quirked as she realized Rex's Force signature was quickly being eclipsed by something she hadn't felt since that evening in the barn on Trulalis. She didn't resist when his glove hooked under her chin, tilting her face toward his. Ahsoka glanced up at his eyes to see they were already closed. Her heartbeat grew strong enough at that moment to shake her entire body, resounding most noticeably in her darkened montrals. Her eyelids felt heavier in the shrinking distance as she let Rex's feelings of hungry anticipation and desire wash over her, too.

A moment later, Ahsoka's wristcom broke the silence with its chirping.

"Ignore it," Rex whispered against her mouth. She forgot about fumbling to mute the insistent sound once their lips touched. Ahsoka's hands instead clasped around his neck for stability and she leaned into the kiss like she had seen in almost every romance-drama holofilm the clones watched. The beeping soon quieted; apparently the caller had given up.

Ahsoka often forgot that humans were naturally warmer than Togrutas. The heat from his lips and face, heightened by his emotions, made her feel like she was on the tropical moon of S'rerl again. And yet she was expecting something... more. More exciting. More fun.

Rex's dissatisfied groan a second later made her pull back, apprehensive eyes wide.

"Just... relax your lips a little," he suggested quietly. "You don't have to be so forceful."

Her shallow nod stilled with the second kiss. Ahsoka tried to keep as gentle as possible this time, faintly mimicking Rex's lead, but all she could think about was how this wasn't anything like the clones' movies.

His hand slipped from her face to brush behind her. When his fingers trailed across her lower back, they ignited such a sudden burn of desire low in her body that she gasped against his mouth. He spread his lips to match in what became a much more interesting kiss.

Interrupted far too soon by a second cry from her wristcom. Just when it was getting good.

Rex pulled away, mumbling, "_Someone _really wants you," with a smirk she didn't notice. He returned to leaning over her, competing for footing between the droids.

She pulled her wristcom closer. "Ahsoka here."

"_Snips!"_ And both closet occupants winced.

"Hey, Master, what's up?"

"_Where are you?"_

"Ah... here. Where are you?" She caught the tail end of Rex smacking a hand over his face.

"_Heading to the Temple. I completely forgot I had to meet with Rex and I can't get ahold of him."_

"Rex is... here, too, Master."

"_Tell him I need him in the briefing room asap."_ And with that, the transmission ended.

For the first time since becoming a padawan, Ahsoka realized how much trust the masters placed in her. In hindsight she considerably questioned their intelligence reflecting on the countless times they had left her alone with Rex. She could have easily been kissing him for years with all their time together in places much more comfortable than a cleaning closet. The thought made her lekku darken anew.

Ahsoka barely registered Rex's face moving and immediately thought he was about to kiss her again. She tilted her head towards his in time to see him trigger the locking mechanism, opening the door for them to spill out into the hall. They both regained their balance mid-step with a surprising amount of dexterity for being locked in a closet for so long. They moved down the corridor with a purpose, Ahsoka fanning her dark lekku and Rex hiding his face inside his helmet.

Standing on complete opposite sides during the turbo lift descent, Rex finally angled his visor in her direction. "When you said you'd already kissed someone, I figured he would've at least taught you how..." he said dryly. He caught the brunt of her glare.

"Well, I'm sorry I wasn't as good as _Seler__i_." She heard a soft chuckle filter through his helmet as he seemed to take interest in his gloves.

Just as the doors swung open on the ground floor, he intoned, "There's still time."

The small group of politicians waiting for Ahsoka's elevator were privy to the sight of Togrutan montrals so dark they looked black.

* * *

For the entire duration of the meeting, Ahsoka paced in front of an open doorway halfway down the hall from the briefing room, a prisoner to her thoughts. She even waved Katooni and Ganodi away despite their protests that she wasn't actually doing anything. Several Jedi passed her, sparing a questioning glance, but none bothered her.

Finally, the briefing room door slid open for Cody and Rex, practically in step with each other as they marched down the hall with helmets tucked under their arms. Watching her captain, Ahsoka realized she had a dawning urge to touch him. It didn't matter where— his arm, his shoulder, his face— just as long as she could be in physical contact with him. With darkening lekku, she attempted to swallow that feeling into oblivion.

Ahsoka waved him over before clasping her hands together tightly. The time it took for Rex to nod farewell to Cody and approach her seemed unnecessarily long, giving rise to Ahsoka's paranoid musings that he was trying to avoid her.

"What's up, kid?" he asked in as normal a tone as if he was just meeting her for the first time that day.

The questions that had all been competing for attention in her mind instantly scattered, leaving Ahsoka to just stare at him. The frantic rampage for a decent, coherent thought inside her own head was only reflected outwardly by her wringing hands and her lip caught between her teeth. Ahsoka was too preoccupied to notice Rex exhale sharply, glancing away from her mouth.

Finally, she formed a complete sentence. "You... kissed me..." After an immediate sweep of the hallway, Rex caught her shoulder and pushed her through the open doorway into the small, windowless meditation room. Luckily for them it wasn't in use; the several plush stools arranged in a circle were empty, and the only light came from the hallway windows, illuminating the center of the room. Rex pushed his commander nearly into a corner, well out of the way of the light.

Ahsoka couldn't help suspecting with a growing smile that he was about to kiss her again. Her hands fell on his chestplate to satisfy the physical contact she was so craving.

"I did," he admitted simply. "And it'd be deceitful if you ratted out the general without telling on me, too."

Ahsoka's hopeful expression immediately fell, replaced by a mask of confusion. Her blissfully imaginative mind screeched to a halt and recalibrated, trying desperately to comprehend intentions and ramifications. "Wait..." A quiver snuck into her voice. "You only kissed me to protect Anakin?"

"Well, not only..." he muttered. "Listen, 'Soka, the war's not looking good anymore. I know you haven't been in a proper battle in months—" She opened her mouth to protest, but Rex interrupted. "Onderon doesn't count. It's getting worse out there and I _need_ General Skywalker at his best, not dogged by your Council for unwinding the same way that any clone does."

The feelings of slight betrayal were immediately overwhelmed by a violent, jealous spike. "Like with Seeri?"

"Ahsoka, drop it." The lack of earlier humor so prominent back in the Apartment Complex brought a glower to her face.

She lowered her gaze, collecting her thoughts while scraping her thumb restlessly along his armor. Finally she muttered, "I can sense your feelings, you know. Around me. I know it's getting harder for you to keep resisting..." Just like it was hard for her to look him in the eyes. "So I think—"

"Hey," he cut in, barely louder than a whisper. Rex ducked his head ever so slightly to catch her gaze as it flashed up. "Maybe we should save this conversation for after the war."

Ahsoka's expression resigned to a clenched jaw reminiscent of her master.

"We'll have all the time in the galaxy for it then," he added. Rex finally released her shoulder and offered a parting nod before sliding on his helmet. "I'll see you around, 'Soka."

He left, taking all the warmth of the room with him. Ahsoka felt a little less complete now, like the spot in her spirit where Rex seemed to fit was aching in his absence. Ideologically, Ahsoka knew attachment was forbidden in the Order. She had just never before felt the ramifications of it. She both envied and judged her master for being able to balance and hide the feelings evoked from attachment from not only herself, but the entire Jedi Order. It wasn't fair.

* * *

**A.N. Y'all, today was a good day. And even though I've got crazy going on this weekend, I will drop everything and update this Saturday. :D**

**And yep, Ahsoka's a bad kisser. Poor girl. Also, if anyone's seen the short-lived series "Lie to Me" (the English version), they contend that a one-shouldered shrug accompanies a lie.**


	18. Pre-lockdown tradition

Pre-lockdown tradition

* * *

Ahsoka checked her chrono as she hurried through Temple corridors, surprised at the late hour. She was supposed to meet Katooni and Ganodi for lightsaber practice five minutes ago. Although the younglings had group practice under the watchful eyes of Master Sinube, they elected to have extra training with Ahsoka every other day because she let them use her shoto.

Ahsoka had had plenty of time to help instruct younglings in the Temple over the past weeks while her master left Coruscant to attend the Republic Strategy conference. Even after he returned, the 501st was held in reserve for longer than expected. For that entire time, Ahsoka hardly set foot outside of the Temple or interacted with anyone who wasn't a Jedi.

Passing one open doorway, a familiar face caught her eye. Inside, Barriss Offee practiced floating meditation next to Master Unduli, who meditated on a flat cushion on the ground. Ahsoka stalled mid-step, a sad smile flashing across her face. Barriss was all but a stranger to her anymore, hurriedly acknowledging Ahsoka when they crossed paths in the Temple, but otherwise busy being a Jedi healer. The war was obviously growing more chaotic, and Barriss' limited free time was understandable. But sometimes Ahsoka wished she could spend a day with females that were older than ten.

She continued on her way, reminded of prior obligations. One glance out the Temple windows rewarded her with a picturesque view of the political district in the distance, countless streams of vehicles crowding the air, and at least two Venator-class ships dipping below the cloud line. Her thoughts involuntarily flashed to the 501st. Specifically, Rex. But she voluntarily tried to push that from her mind lest the guilt that usually followed thoughts of him set in.

Ahsoka hadn't contacted him since their last conversation in a dark meditation room, and while her master was gone he had no reason to visit. He didn't even comm her. Even after Anakin returned, there was no sign of her captain.

Not that she was looking.

At least not every day.

She finally strode into the large practice room at the end of the hall, empty aside from Katooni and Ganodi, sitting on a large windowsill impatiently swinging their legs.

"Sorry I'm late, girls," was all Ahsoka had to say before smiles burst across the younglings' faces.

* * *

Ahsoka barely saw her master even after he returned from the Republic Strategy conference, because between the Jedi Council and the Supreme Chancellor, he was kept very busy. She never once hinted at knowing Anakin's secret. In fact, as time elapsed, it became less of an issue to her seeing his steadfast dedication to the Republic and the war effort. Deep down, she started believing Anakin _deserved_ a relationship for as hard as he fought.

Finally, a week after his return he commed her to join him in the briefing room that afternoon. They had a new mission. That alone made her blood pump a little faster: they were about to return to the war.

Ahsoka was twenty minutes early to the briefing room to find she was the last to arrive. Anakin, Captain Rex and Appo stood around the projection console, accompanied by Masters Plo Koon and Kenobi in holographic form. The large screen on the wall behind them already displayed an unknown planet, looping information in a lower corner.

"Thanks for joining us, Snips," Anakin said with half a smirk at her furrowed brow. She filled the gap between her master and the blue projection of Master Plo, trying unsuccessfully not to glance at the clones. At least she clamped down on her emotions before she allowed herself to feel disappointment that their visors were clearly pointed at the consoletop.

"Everyone's here, we'll get started," announced her master. Holographic maps and shapes grew out of the console, forming tall mesas linked by what seemed to be bridges. "This is Cato Neimoidia, and we received word this morning that Separatists have invaded. The 501st has since been tasked to ship out and defend the planet."

"A Neimoidian planet?" Rex broke in, his helmet swinging from the holographic landscape to his general. "Aren't they in bed with the Separatists anyway, sir?"

Anakin's shrug said yes. "Politics aside, the Republic is sending us to save them." He went on to detail his attack strategy to the clones, while accepting feedback from the Masters without acknowledging that he would amend his plan at all. The entire brief took nearly a half hour before he concluded with, "The fleet's being fueled and prepared as we speak. The earliest we can jump will be tomorrow, so lockdown will begin at midnight. Plan accordingly." At his dismissive nod, the clones snapped to attention before making their way for the exit.

Ahsoka followed at a distance, letting the doors close after them before attempting to leave the briefing room. The doors opened for her and revealed Captain Rex standing in the hall by himself, visor pointed downward in the universal posture of in-helmet communication.

She turned to head down the corridor in the opposite direction, but a familiar, "Hold up," stopped her in her tracks.

Ahsoka stiffly spun to face him. Once he was done inside his helmet, he removed it and crossed the hall, looking a little more worn than the last time they had talked.

"Haven't seen you in a hot minute; figured you forgot where we lived. It's a big planet, after all," he said. Despite the hard lines on his face, a familiar smirk found room to grow. "I hope you haven't been avoiding me, 'Soka."

She glanced away briefly, searching for the right answer. "I've been studying... and training more." Gazing back up at the captain, she found a depth of understanding in his eyes that eased her tight shoulders. No matter what kind of strange things happened to the both of them, Ahsoka could never feel awkward around Rex for very long. There was something about his presence that could calm down even a raging wampa.

"You could've commed _me_, you know," she added.

"I've been overseeing the 501st... and training," he said, grinning wider when Ahsoka scowled. "If you want, it's tradition for the 501st to go out and celebrate the night before lockdown. Only seems appropriate to invite you, too."

"Are you going to the Fleshy Lek?" she asked with something bordering enthusiasm. She earned a chuckle from Rex.

"Why does that place appeal to you? It's not even that good."

"Everyone else goes there."

"They're old enough."

"I'm seventeen!" she retorted. "In... a couple months."

With a laugh, Rex jerked his head for her to follow and they walked down the hall talking as casually as if they hadn't been avoiding one another for the past few weeks. The captain instinctively led her through the Temple hangar and out to the public landing pad to call for a speeder taxi.

The moment they stopped on the pad, Ahsoka's fingers trailed down the side of his face. Rex eyed her with slight amusement but returned to his task of requesting transportation.

"The lines in your face are more substantial now," she finally remarked long after she dropped her hand. "And your eyebrows seem like they're stuck in a permanent scowl anymore." Ahsoka giggled when Rex, with effort, raised his eyebrows into a neutral expression.

A taxi descended onto the pad and Rex opened the back door for his commander.

"So," she began as they both sat side-by-side because Ahsoka refused to slide beyond the middle seat, "how long has this pre-lockdown celebration been a tradition?"

"Since the second battle of Geonosis. Go out and celebrate like it's your last time, because for too many clones it just might be." His smile at the end didn't soften his words.

"That's... morbidly proactive," Ahsoka said. She watched Rex slowly turn his tally-marked helmet over in his hands before asking, "Do you usually think like that? That each battle can be your last?"

"I stopped wondering that a long time ago. I can't afford to be burdened with hypotheticals about my own safety on a battlefield. If it's my turn, it's my turn," he responded with an unbothered shrug. Ahsoka felt his peaceful acceptance of his fate, as calm as any other aspect of his persona, and couldn't stop her hand from sliding into his, right under his helmet. His gaze conspicuously settled on their driver before turning to Ahsoka.

"Sometimes, you sound more like a Jedi than I do," she said with a grin.

"Probably because I listen to your master more than you do." He gave her hand a squeeze and her expression broke into a full-blown smile, framed by darkening lekku.

Soon enough they landed on a street amid obnoxious holoadverts and countless bright signs, not too far away from the Diamondback Nexu cantina. Inside they found the place packed with 501st soldiers all biding their time until the Fleshy Lek opened in another hour. The average noise of conversation drowned out the music, and the smell of so many drinks overwhelmed the hookah scent.

Coric, Kix, and Jesse had managed to confiscate the same alcove table as before, leaving room to spare for at least four other people. All three toasted the appearance of their leadership twice. Ahsoka shouldn't have even been surprised to hear that when the soldiers got word of the new mission, they dropped everything, fled the barracks and wound up here in record time.

Fives and Tup appeared then, each carrying a bunch of shot glasses to the table and distributing them fairly.

"Neimoidian whiskey, in honor of our upcoming mission," Fives said, raising his own glass.

"Way to be cheap," grumbled Coric, but didn't complain to receiving Ahsoka's portion that Rex pushed out of her reach. All the clones downed the alcohol in one identical movement. Ahsoka just sat there with flat eye markings.

"You invited me along to do what, exactly? Watch?" She didn't have to lean far to get in Rex's face. They were practically sitting as close as they had been in the taxi despite there being ample room in the booth to spread out. If the rest of the clones had any opinions on the obvious proximity, they kept it to themselves.

Fives and Tup collected the empty glasses to return to the bar while Jesse ordered food for everyone via the touchscreen inset in the middle of the table. Fives came back not much later with a non-alcoholic fizzy drink for their commander which tided her over until their dinner arrived.

Nearly an hour later as their table was still in the midst of sharing stories over numerous empty glasses, the rest of the cantina was all but deserted of troopers, instead replaced by aliens not interested in clubbing. Ahsoka was much more amicable after having eaten. She and Rex had even separated slightly during dinner.

Eventually, Rex excused himself from the table to find the 'fresher and the rest of the clones jumped into action. Jesse, Kix, and Fives all donned their helmets as if on cue, vacating the booth and pulling Ahsoka with them. Tup remained, sliding his credit chip over the touchscreen to pay for the food, while Coric preemptively headed toward the 'fresher.

"Guys, what's going on?" Ahsoka asked, her voice equal parts amused and scared. The three soldiers herded her out of the cantina and into the street where they none-too-stealthily rushed to the landing zone to request a speeder.

"It's a jailbreak, sir!" Kix announced, laughing.

* * *

The Fleshy Lek was well attended for having just opened. The electronic music interspersed with ship and droid noises shook the floor in time with the flashing, colorful lights. Most of the patrons occupied the dance floor in the middle of the room, but many people also lined the second and third story balconies overlooking the first floor entertainment. It wasn't quite as crowded as the last time Ahsoka had attended, but it was just as energetic. This time, though, she didn't have to wield her Jedi mind trick powers when she had three troopers willing and able to sneak her in.

Their helmets came off as they entered. Jesse and Kix quickly dispersed once inside, but Fives led his commander over to the long bar outlined with purple lights on the far side of the club. Many aliens already crowded the counter leaving Fives almost no space to even place an order, which gave Ahsoka nothing else to do but stand behind him and take in her surroundings with wide eyes.

Soon, though, her attention came back to Fives depositing a shot glass of clear liquid into her hand. He held one of his own and clinked the tops together.

"Is this the same as what you had back at the cantina?" she asked. Fives leaned closer with an uncomprehending expression and Ahsoka repeated the question much louder. He laughed when he finally heard her over the music.

"No!" he shouted back. "But I won't tell you what it is because Rex would kill me!" She watched him down his own glass and shake his head with a tight wince. He came out on the other side with a smile before looking to her expectantly.

Ahsoka squared her shoulders and drank it in the same manner all the clones had taken shots that evening. She almost gagged at the faint metallic taste but managed to swallow it, feeling the burn all the way down her throat. She handed the glass back, coughing.

"Is it supposed to taste like that?" Ahsoka cried. "Like I just licked a durasteel bar? Made of lava?"

"Well, yeah!" Fives set the glasses back on the bar and Ahsoka pounded her chest with her fist, still coughing. He offered her the choice of another drink, but she waved him away. Then she gasped.

It was difficult for Jedi to explain their Force senses to non-Force users. They usually ended up simplifying the comparison down to: involuntarily feeling the Force-signatures of everyone at once somewhere in the back of their minds being jumbled into a white noise of sorts was just like hearing all ambient noise in a crowded room without actively listening to something in particular. However, every once in awhile, a strong Force signature would pop up on the fringes of a Jedi's consciousness, drowning out most everyone else as the Jedi honed in on that one.

Ahsoka grabbed Fives' arm and yanked him away from the bar. "Rex is here!" Somewhere, anyway. For Rex having an average Force signature, Ahsoka easily noticed its familiarity... and he was kind of seething, which only helped amplify it.

Fives suggested she hide in plain sight and pointed to the dance floor, which had amassed more dancers since they arrived. Ahsoka zipped in between the humans, the Zabraks, and the Twi'leks. Once inside the frenzy, she couldn't see much else except the flashing lights and the second and third story balconies, lined with chatty patrons, some soldiers, but at least no Rex. The music was stronger on the dance floor and she felt it reverberate from her feet to her montrals.

A hand suddenly pulled Ahsoka between a human couple and into Jesse's armor. He grinned. "Hey, sir! Lookin' for someone?" The soldier was surprisingly fluid in his movements despite his armor as he danced to the rhythm.

"Hiding from Rex!"

Jesse interrupted his dancing to groan. "Coric was supposed to stall him!" He led her further into the middle of the cohesive dancing multitude, weaving through the crowd with a surprising dexterity, before winding up next to Kix. Ahsoka didn't even respond to Jesse's prompting to dance because she was distracted by the sight of Kix fused so tightly to a woman at the mouth that even a lightsaber couldn't separate them.

Ahsoka tried to follow Jesse's lead as they danced apart, but her movements ended up flowing into the Shien lightsaber form. Moments later as she turned back to Jesse, she instead found a clone with a stern glare under sharp eyebrows. Her eyes widened at coming face-to-face with the captain, but before she could voice her surprise, he took her by the wrist and yanked her toward the edge of the dance floor. He was not nearly as coordinated as Jesse and bumped into almost every dancer he passed, carving a clear path for the padawan in tow.

"You're always dragging me away!" she cried once they were free of the crowd.

"You're always in places you shouldn't be!" Rex shouted over his shoulder. He skirted the dance floor on the obvious path for the exit. Ahsoka yanked him back hard enough to make him face her.

"Maybe Cato Neimoidia will be _my_ last battle! And I'll have died never having a good time out with my friends." Her voice started out strong enough to compete with the music, but under his hardening glare, her voice dropped by degrees. She actually felt his anger spike in reaction to her words more powerfully than the bass pulsing through the floor.

Rex closed the gap and towered over her in all his authority. He didn't raise his voice like she was expecting, but he was close enough to feel his snarl against her montrals. "I never want to hear you talk like that again. It's our job to protect you... if something happens to you, it better be because I'm dead first."

Ahsoka felt her cheeks and lekku flush hot, but not from the alcohol. She tapped into her natural, feminine instinct as she looked up at her captain, knowing there was nothing Jedi-like about her beckoning eyes. Her hands on his forearms gently led him along the path she took, backing into the nearby wall under the second story balconies. Ahsoka couldn't help but smirk as the distance seemed to reduce his scowl by degrees. They were well hidden behind the club loiterers watching everyone else dance. The lights weren't as bright nor the music as loud here.

Ahsoka could plainly see how transfixed he was for the first time that night and took advantage of her opportunity. She slowly bit her lip, turning it into a half-smile when she felt Rex shiver through his armor. One hand darted around the back of his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. Her other hand curled around his head.

There was barely a second of hesitation before his armor pressed flat against her body and his arms encircled her. Just as before, his hand sliding a caress along her lower back caused her to gasp against his mouth, but this time she was met with his tongue.

Ahsoka's breath quickened. The exciting sensation of his lips pressing desperately against hers was almost lost compared to the feeling of his tongue sliding along her own, still a little too surprised to respond in fashion. He tasted like a strange combination of all his earlier drinks. She couldn't stifle a moan as he explored the rest of her mouth, which only spurred Rex into kissing her harder.

He lifted her up against the wall and she threw both arms around his neck, holding on as he raised her legs on either side of his waist. Their change in position encouraged Ahsoka to tentatively push back into his mouth with her own tongue.

She felt his overwhelming passion almost as clearly as his armor against her. The last time his emotions had been so unrestrained was directly after Umbara.

"Why do you do these things to me?" he muttered into her mouth, somewhere between a growl and a sigh.

A burst of accomplishment swelled in her chest. It enhanced her instant gratification received from kissing so completely, but exacerbated the longing she felt low in her belly that had yet to be satisfied.

Ahsoka let her hands explore his head while she caught his lower lip between her teeth and sucked it into her mouth. She earned a frustrated groan from him before Rex initiated another strong kiss. They were a tangle of tongues and roaming hands until the need for air interrupted them.

Rex rested his forehead against hers, chest heaving under his armor and grinning when Ahsoka rubbed her fingertips along his chin scar.

"You improved," he said, watching her content expression. "Been practicing?"

"I'm just a fast learner," she said with half a smirk, eyes only on her fingers drifting lazily along his face. "I won't avoid you after this if you don't."

"We're shipping out tomorrow. We can't really avoid each other this time," he replied. Rex slowly pried her body away from him and let her feet find the floor. He radiated the same disappointed longing that she felt.

Despite her emotions, she put on her same enthusiastic smile. "Looks like we'll have lots of hours of hyperspace travel with nothing to do..."

"The mission comes first," he told her flatly. But his smirk followed. "I had a few too many drinks tonight. What's your excuse?"

"I never knew inhibitions dropped after just one shot!"

"_What_?"

* * *

None of Ahsoka's protests dissuaded Rex from escorting her to a speeder taxi to take her back to the Temple. They didn't sit nearly as close in the backseat this time, but Ahsoka's limbs were involuntarily drawn to her captain. Several times she noticed Rex peeling her hand off his gauntlet without realizing how it got there in the first place.

Halfway through the silent ride, Ahsoka finally looked over to Rex, hidden behind his helmet. "I think I should apologize," she began softly, aware that taxi drivers were notorious eavesdroppers, "that I blatantly use the lip-bite because I know what it does to you." However, her smug expression betrayed her overall satisfaction at her success.

"It's only fair," Rex said with a casual shrug. "Because I use your sweet spot to my advantage."

Ahsoka's smile dropped and her lekku exploded almost two shades darker. "My what?"

"That part of your back. Fantastic reactions when I touch it."

Just thinking about it reignited her longing for close contact. The first desire that popped into her head was to jump onto Rex's lap, yank off his helmet and continue from where they had left off in the club. Amid flustered breathing, Ahsoka clasped her hands together tightly.

"So what happened to saving that until after the war?"

"I said save that _discussion_ for after the war... I don't recall discussing anything with you tonight."

Ahsoka pursed her lips to keep anything remotely resembling a smirk from growing. Anymore, Rex seemed to be taking after Anakin when it came to following rules and protocol. Even self-imposed rules. But she kept her observations to herself as the Temple sped into view.

Once the taxi set down on the public landing pad, Ahsoka pushed open her door only to hear Rex intone, "Have a good night, 'Soka."

She glanced back at him slouched in his corner and her brows furrowed. Him escorting her into the Temple from some questionable location was just as much a tradition for her as their pre-lockdown celebrations were to the clones.

"You're not coming in?"

"Might as well kiss my rank and station goodbye if I do."

Ahsoka tried her hardest to comprehend his implication, but her brain kept stalling on the word "kiss."

"G'night," he repeated. "Bring your war face tomorrow."

Ahsoka stepped out of the speeder and watched it fly off until it was lost in the constant stream of skyways, a living grid against the dark sky.

She clutched her arms comfortingly as she involuntarily headed back to her room. She walked with an oblivious smile on her face, eyes on the ground. Ahsoka passed a familiar Mirialan without noticing her stop, walking on without hearing Barriss call her name. All that was on her mind was the memory from the club, replaying for the umpteenth time, and the understanding that her enkindled emotions would not allow her to sleep anytime soon.

* * *

**A.N. I enjoyed this chapter so~o much.**

**You can always count on the clones to choose the path of least integrity. At least on their days off.**


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